The combination lock was invented in the 1870s by Linus Yale jr. For more than 100 years, the rotary combination lock has been the standard way to lock lockers and cabinets without a key, but this outdated technology must be replaced. It is slow and cumbersome when rushing places, such as to class. According to the Washington Post, “Movies and television shows about high schools may still feature students decorating lockers — or being shoved into them — but in the real world, lockers have all but been abandoned...For most students, the issue is time and convenience.” Our solution to this problem is to retrofit existing lockers with RFID readers to be used with school IDs, which solves the problem while still being cost-effective to implement. We are also using a Node MCU to interface with students’ phones to remotely unlock the lockers in the case of loss of the RFID card or if a student wants to allow his/her friend to access the locker. Our second problem lies within the locker. According to the CDC, almost 11% of students, about 5.5 million people, have ADHD, making it difficult for them to remember what class they have and what materials are needed for each class. Therefore, our plan is to put a small screen inside the locker in a very visible place. This screen will tell a student what class he/she currently has and what materials he/she needs.

During our peer review, our classmates had some suggestions. First of all, it was suggested that instead of having a fingerprint and a RFID sensor, we should only have an RFID. This would make it easier for the school because the students wouldn't have to enroll their fingerprints, it is more reliable, and it is cheaper. Secondly, people wanted to be able to unlock their lockers remotely to allow a friend to use the locker or if they lose their cards. According to these suggestions, we removed the fingerprint reader and added a Node MCU to interface with Blynk, as can be seen in the video.