TrashApp

2nd Place Finisher at a Fall 2023 J.B. Hunt Hackathon. This project involves a smart trash can. The Django web server accepts incoming serial data from an Arduino (my team used an Uno) with an HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor (something like this) and displays the data as a progress bar, indicating how full the trash can is. The functionality is beneficial for homeowners, particularly those with large homes and/or many children. Additionally, it proves useful for businesses such as restaurants, allowing bussers to check a computer screen and see the fill levels of all the trash cans in the restaurant.

Building

To build this web server locally, follow these instructions:

1. Ensure that Python and pip are installed on your system.

2. Inside the project's root, install the dependencies using:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

3. Change into the trashapp directory:

   cd trashapp
   

4. Run the migrate command of the manage.py program to create the database file:

   python manage.py migrate
   

5. Now that the database has been generated, start up the web server:

   python manage.py runserver
   

If you wish to send serial data to the server, use the program located at /trashapp/arduino-data-getter/main.py. Ensure that you change the name of the trash can in the HTTP post to one that exists in your database. Also, confirm that the Serial object ser is configured with the correct baud rate and port corresponding to your Arduino.

While the server might accept properly formatted posts directly from your board if your Arduino has Wi-Fi capabilities, this feature has not been thoroughly tested.

Shoutouts

Thanks to team members Mason, Baker, and Daniel Powell.