Smart prizes for Team Lockduino’s smart door-locking system

Team Lockduino, from the University of Exeter, has been awarded its prize by Victor Chavez, Thales UK CEO for winning the Arduino Project competition.

After beating fierce competition from both sides of the Atlantic in a public vote, the members of Team Lockduino – Ash Udoh, George Young, Josh Holmes and Matt Gilbert – each received a Pebble smartwatch for their innovative door-locking system.

Representing Team Lockduino on the day, Ash, Josh and Matt met Victor at a studio in London where our CEO was also recording his monthly podcast. Team Lockduino made a special appearance in the latest episode hosted by Dominic Byrne, to tell Thales people about their winning concept.

The Project Arduino competition gave the first year computer science undergraduates the opportunity to eradicate the perpetual doubt, “Have I locked the door!?”. The Lockduino, a smart door-locking system created from an Arduino board, allows users to remotely lock and unlock a door. Capitalising on the growing trend for the Internet of Things, the team of four developed an app that meant the door-locking mechanism could be controlled from a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Team Lockduino see their prototype evolving and hope it could be shaped into a future solution to tackle the growing complexities presented by smart cities and urban security.

Watch Team Lockduino’s video entry to find out exactly how they created the Lockduino.

Project Arduino is a challenge devised by Thales that gives university students the opportunity to get their hands on an Arduino kit and show us what they can do with it. Entries have to tie in (however loosely) with the Thales business areas – Aerospace, Space, Transportation, Defence and Security. This year, teams from nine universities across the UK and US took up the challenge to build something amazing and film the progress of their project.

Keep an eye on the Project Arduino website to find out about the next competition.