Team B.A.T.A.: bharatdeeprace, bansalayush341, bakhil7261, trishachatterjee270

Created August 29, 2020

Touchless Elevator Buttons

A Touchless Elevator Panel that can be made without any AI knowledge.

Intermediate123

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino Nano R3

IR Proximity Sensor Module

Capacitive Proximity Sensor, Adjustable

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Solder Wire, Lead Free

Solder Flux, Soldering

Story

The number of bacteria present on an elevator button is almost 40 times higher than on a public toilet seat, according to many findings making it one of the main places where a person can catch the virus. We all are aware of how COVID-19 has catastrophically affected the lives of human beings yet it is next to impossible for us to just put a stop to everything and contain the virus which obviously we failed in doing so. We all are in pandemic and to deal with the current situation we have come up with something that can be beneficial for humanity to combat the problems of “contact” and “touch”.In order to get accustomed to the circumstances, we have to deal with it in a different way. While life coming back to normal with more safety measures to avoid virus infection, adding safety within the public places and crowded areas are also prevailing in the cities. But there are many situations where we have to break the safety measures and interact with an unsafe element to meet the needy and Elevator is one of them. Elevator itself is a confined space used by many people you probably never even met or heard of and that makes it quite dangerous for times like these however, the main danger is not space but the necessity to press the button in order to go to your desired floor. We find elevators almost everywhere Ex: at shopping complexes, airports, residential apartments, hospitals,offices, etc. and to go to different floors we don't have any other option except to press the button. Our project is dealing with the prevention of COVID-19 spread though touch interactions or touches. Our team has designed a very simple yet effective way of tackling this problem, Touchless Elevator Buttons. Yes, its true many companies have come up with designs for this however most of them cost quite a lot and this is a problem in countries or communities where affordability is the most important factor. How is your design better and cheaper you might ask? Well, it just is. We manipulate electronics to solve this problem rather than depending on any AI Magic. Our design uses:

1. Arduino Nano

2. IRProximity Sensor

3. CapacitiveProximity Sensor

And that’s it! With a few wiring connections this elevator panel isready to go! It is our industrial design which makes us unique.

Our design has Holes instead of buttons. A person has to keep his/her fingertip for about 1 second to activate the button and the good thing is these holes have a diameter of 4cm which is more than enough for an average persons finger. This basic change in the design removes any requirement for AI programming.

This is how it works:

The Capacitive Proximity Sensor gets activated when it senses any metal or non-metal near it. Our capacitive proximity sensor is configured in such a way that it senses only Non-Metals mainly skin. Now capacitive properties of skin can differ from person to person and weather as well so we focus mainly on the sensing part. Once the Capacitive Proximity Sensor gets activated a signal is sent to the Arduino Nano informing something is present at a distance of 2cm from the button ( Range of the sensor is 2cm). The Arduino Nano then checks if any object has been inserted into the hole. Now the IR Proximity Sensor helps the Arduino accomplish this task and checks if there is indeed any obstruction present which in most cases will be a finger. It will check 5 times in exactly 0.8 if the obstruction is still present and then confirm that a person wants to activate or "Press" the particular button. In case the Capacitive Proximity Sensor was set off by some passer by or maybe an object placed near the sensor , the IR Proximity sensors confirms if someone wants to activate or "Press" that button. The IR Sensor using its inbuilt potentiometer has been configured in such a that it's range is limited to 2cm only since diameter of hole is 4cm. The hole has a length/height of about 1.5 cm.

All this and not a pinch of is AI required, just the ingenuity of the design.

Added Features:

The Touchless Elevator Panel can also play a role for maintaining Social Distancing by linking it up to a CCTV camera which is present inside the elevator. The camera detects how many people have entered the lift and based on social distanicng norms it halts the lift or shows a warning sign in case the lift becomes crowded.

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Touchless buttons work by the combination of two sensors :
1. Capacitive Proximity Sensor
2. IR Proximity Sensor
The Capacitive Proximity Sensor gets activated when any Metal or Non-Metal placed 2cm from the Sensor plate. As soon as the Capacitive Proximity Sensor gets activated it sends a signal to the Arduino Nano which then turns on the IR Proximity Sensor. Assuming that a fingertip has been inserted into the hole, the IR Proximity Sensor detects an obstruction and sends a signal to Arduino which in turn sends a signal to the main elevator panel informing it which button has been pressed. If no fingertip has been inserted it the IR proximity sensor does not detect any obstruction and hence ignores the signal sent by the Capacitive Proximity Sensor.

Schematics

Touchless Elevator Buttons

The IR Sensor is placed above the Ring Hole and Capacitive Proximity Sensor serves as the Touchless Button (Please refer to CAD Model for better understanding ). When a finger is put inside the hole and kept for 1 sec the Capacitive Proximity Sensor gets activated by sensing a material (Skin) and then IR Sensor detects an obstruction i.e. the finger as a result of which the button gets activated. The ring hole ensures that the button gets activated only when a finger is inserted into the hole and not by any other material.

Code

Elevator_Touchless.ino

Elevator_Touchless.ino

C/C++

The code is dependent on information from two sensors. Capacitive proximity sensor values are first taken and then checked if any object is present at a distance of 2cm. If the value received is LOW that means nothing is present however if the value present is HIGH, the program enters the first IF statement where the value of IR Proximity Sensor is taken 5 times in 0.8 seconds using a for loop ( the fingertip has to be kept inside the hole for 0.8 seconds to activate button ). The value is taken 5 times to ensure that someone is purposefully activating that button using a finger. In between if the value becomes HIGH, the loop breaks. After the last IR Proximity Sensor value is taken and it turns out to be LOW program enters another if statement where using the Serial Interface a signal is sent to the main elevator panel about which button is being pressed in our case 1 or 2.

#define IRSensorPinUP 12
#define IRSensorPinDOWN 11
#define CapacitiveSensorUP 10
#define CapacitiveSensorDOWN 9
int IRSens_PinUPstate = 0;
int IRSens_PinDOWNstate = 0;
int CapSens_PinUPstate = 0;
int CapSens_PinDOWNstate = 0;
int val_UP,val_DOWN;
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(IRSensorPinUP, INPUT);
  pinMode(IRSensorPinDOWN, INPUT);
  pinMode(CapacitiveSensorUP, INPUT);
  pinMode(CapacitiveSensorDOWN, INPUT);
}

void loop() {
  CapSens_PinUPstate = digitalRead(CapacitiveSensorUP);             //Reading Values of Capacitive Proximity Sensors     
  CapSens_PinDOWNstate = digitalRead(CapacitiveSensorDOWN);         //Reading Values of Capacitive Proximity Sensors
  if(CapSens_PinUPstate == HIGH) {                                  // For UP Button, program enters if statement if CPS UP is HIGH i.e. something is present at 2cm distance 
    for(val_UP=0;val_UP<=4;val_UP++) {                              // for loop checks value of IR Sensor 5 times in 0.8 secs and confirms if something is present inside the hole i.e. fingertip                                
       IRSens_PinUPstate = digitalRead(IRSensorPinUP);              
       delay(160);                                                  // 800 milliseconds divide 5 is 160 milliseconds
       if(IRSens_PinUPstate == HIGH) {                              // in case the obstruction or fingertip is removed before loop finishes program comes out of loop
        break;
       }
    }                                                                                                                  
    if(IRSens_PinUPstate == LOW) {                                  // after 0.8 secs if anything (Fingertip) is present value of IR UP is LOW and program enters nested if statement 
      Serial.write(1);                                              // Sends 1 to main elevator panel by Serial Interface
    }
  }
  if(CapSens_PinDOWNstate == HIGH) {                                // For DOWN Button, program enters if statement if CPS DOWN is HIGH i.e. something is present at 2cm distance                          
     for(val_DOWN=0;val_DOWN<=4;val_DOWN++) {                       // for loop checks value of IR Sensor 5 times in 0.8 secs and confirms if something is present inside the hole i.e. fingertip
       IRSens_PinDOWNstate = digitalRead(IRSensorPinDOWN);
       delay(160);                                                  // 800 milliseconds divide 5 is 160 milliseconds
       if(IRSens_PinDOWNstate == HIGH) {                            // in case the obstruction or fingertip is removed before loop finishes program comes out of loop
        break;
       }                                                           
     }
    if(IRSens_PinDOWNstate == LOW) {                                // after 0.8 secs if anything (Fingertip) is present value of IR DOWN is LOW and program enters nested if statement
      Serial.write(2);                                              // Sends 1 to main elevator panel by Serial Interface
      }                                                       
    }
  }                                                                 // End of Code

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Custom parts and enclosures

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Schematics

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Code

Elevator_Touchless.ino

Credits

bharatdeeprace

bansalayush341

bakhil7261

trishachatterjee270

Comments

Embed the widget on your own site

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Custom parts and enclosures

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Schematics

Touchless Elevator Buttons

Code

Elevator_Touchless.ino

Credits

bharatdeeprace

bansalayush341

bakhil7261

trishachatterjee270

Comments

Related channels and tags