Doctor's Orders

[Keyless]

Here's a brief outline of my latest software scheme. I am happy to provide more details, but this post is getting a bit long already.

My doctor knows I like cycling and has told me to go on cycle trips more often so as to get more exercise. I spent a long time trying to devise something to allow me to plan a trip and face some sort of penalty if I chicken out. After a lot of thought and rejected ideas, I decided that GPS was the only real solution. I have an Arduino and the Adafruit GPS logger, together with a program on my laptop. I can't say it was easy but, at last, I have a program that allows me to enter a planned trip with up to 6 waypoints, dates between which the trip must be made, and a final date and time after which I can be released without making the trip. When I lock it, the system will encrypt a photograph. Once that has been done, the photograph can only be decrypted by making the trip or waiting until after the final date. I believe I have made it cheat proof.

There are several ways in which it could be used. I have only just got it working and it is likely to have bugs. Even so, I have risked using it a couple of times like this. I set up a trip, set the final date and time to several hours after I expected to get back and locked the system using a photo of a combination lock set to a random combination, which I had not looked at. I put the computer in an outbuilding and dressed in my cycle clothes, which are the sort of thing I feel a bit self conscious about unless I am riding a bike. Then I locked up the house, put the keys into a secure key holder and locked it with the combination lock. Now it was a case of make the trip or wait around for several hours. The rides were more enjoyable without the temptation to turn back on the difficult bits. The system did work and let me back into the house. When I have more confidence in the system I will try to be more adventurous with the consequences of not making the trip. Committing to a trip a few days in the future or locked on clothing maybe.

I have to say that it would not have been worth the time I put into it just for the result. Figuring out how to do it and making it was all part of the enjoyment. I hope I will use it many times more and it really will help me get more exercise.

I guess it might be better to do this as some sort of app for a smart phone with GPS on it, but I don't know how to do that.

[Dark_Lizerd]

Nice idea...
And it made me think of the perfect SB lock...
No dial, no numbers....
Just a USB port...
The computer will program the lock with a "key" number...
And any computer can send that "key" to the lock to unlock it...
But, team that up with a program that requires something done first before it release the key...
No need for a battery in the lock because the USB powers the lock and the code is saved on an EEPROM...

A second version works backwards...
A thumb drive will store the number (encoded) and when you insert the drive, the lock runs a program,
finds the "key" and then opens...

[Keyless]

It seems to me that the technique could be used to exchange data between a computer and all sorts of things. What about a box containing a WiFi router?

[Zan]

I have some ideas for this, I can help you develop a web interfce for this. Let me know if you are interested.

[Keyless]

I think you are referring to a lock box or a scheme for locking a wi-fi router. I'm afraid other people use the internet connection here, so I can't cut off the internet. Even so, I would be interested to hear more about your ideas. In other circumstances I might think about an exercise bike which would cut the internet if I did not keep up the schedule. Difficult to build though because it would need to be suitably tamper proof.