IR + Radio + Bluetooth Alarm Clock

February 2024

PART 1: I wanted to practice building more complex electronic systems, so I set off to make an alarm clock that would only turn off when three physical targets were hit with an IR “gun” (effectively a flashlight). The targets would then transmit their hit status over radio. Once all three were hit, a Bluetooth signal would be sent to my phone to turn off the alarm. In this first part I practiced circuit fundamentals and messed around with the RF and IR modules. PART 2: I spent so long getting the sensors to work reliably. At one point I discover the concept of a pulldown resistor and from then onwards it was game over. PART 3: I put together an android app to control the whole system and fabricated the targets as well as the final IR gun enclosure (i.e. a Pringles can). With that, the project was complete. This whole project upgraded my electronics knowledge significantly as well as my software abilities. They weren’t much to begin with but you gotta start somewhere.