This term’s IoT hackathon in the masters programme on Services Computing was about Smart Environments, where IoT services support various teaching and learning activities.

IoT Hackathon SS 2017

Background & Motivation

Teaching and learning at the HHZ is characterized by block courses enabling part-time Master’s studies for working professionals. Lectures last the entire day. There are lots of hands-on exercises, which help to achieve a good balance between focused learning and practical activities. However, it is a challenge to organize all activities taking the current situation during a lecture into account.

The Internet of Things (IoT) constantly accessible and interwoven into our daily routines may support activities for a situation-aware and student-tailored teaching and learning.

Ultimate goal of this hackathon is to explore IoT services which are permanently installed and used by students and lectures at the HHZ. Both lecturers and students shall benefit from these services.

Sensor-instrumented Room

The hackathon utilized an sensor intrumented environment installed in our lecture room. The Arduino based wireless sensor network was evaluated in the last term’s hackathon. The following sensors were deployed multiple times at various places in the room.

  • Movement
  • Temperature
  • Humidity
  • CO2

A Raspberry Pi served as central data collector and runs Home-Assistant.io providing a dashboard and REST interface to all sensors.

Projects for Building Smart Environments

Students were required to transform the sensor instrumented room into a smart environment. They proposed various additional devices, such as Amazon’s Dash Buttons, smartphones, and Philips Hue light system.

All projects are publicly available. Checkt out the following links:

  • StayFocussed - A service enabling improved concentration during lectures providing recommendations.
  • FarbenFroh - Sense, evaluate and display, in particular using peripheral perception, the current quality of lecturing environment
  • Dashbutton - Three IoT use cases of what you can do with an Amazon DashButton.
  • Emergency Button - Call for help and confirm.
  • Smart Doorbell - How to enter the HHZ for learning and project activities outside the opening hours.