FRoute

Find all your local pit stops 🥑

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Inspiration

FRoute draws inspiration from a desire to create a positive impact on local businesses by guiding users to nearby gems, fostering a sense of community and adventure. Our team was also inspired to create a product that was intentionally designed as its own dedicated piece of hardware and not on a phone, to break free from the perpetual doomscrolling habits associated with mobile devices.

What it does

In a world dominated by digital distractions, FRoute aims to disconnect users from their phones and encourage more in-person interactions, turning routine walks into meaningful journeys. By pressing a button on FRoute you activate its adventure finding abilities. A set of walking directions to a mystery location (a local business in the area) is presented on the included display and you can scroll up and down through the set, letting FRoute guide you on your journey. This promotes real connections, ensuring that every stroll becomes an opportunity to discover, support, and engage with the vibrant tapestry of your neighborhood.

How we built it

We used the Google Maps API, running on a laptop to find the user's location when they were in proximity. We then used the API to find a random point of interest within a certain walking radius of the user's location, and gathered the directions on how to get there. The API script communicates with our firmware script which uses Bluetooth to parse through and send the necessary data to the Arduino. The Arduino houses the Bluetooth module, a Grove SSD 1315 OLED Display that works using I2C, and all necessary buttons for the hardware interface to work. We also made use of the Elko Engineering Garage to 3D print the housing for our device. Because of memory limitations, we needed to use two Arduino's to split stored data.

Challenges we ran into

We faced challenges in delineating the scope of our project and defining the problem domain. Additionally, our team encountered hurdles during development, particularly with the Google Maps API, as team members lacked prior experience, requiring some extra effort to get up and running smoothly. We also faced challenges when it came to the memory capabilities of the Arduino's, as they have very small onboard memory.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a project that reflects our shared vision and commitment to the spirit of exploration. We're also proud of the integration between our hardware and software components that showcases the distinctive strengths of each of our team members, and strengths in working together even with a team member working remotely.

What we learned

We started out knowing little about the Google Maps API, but this project taught us a bunch. Getting hands-on with it helped us figure out the ropes and understand how to make the most of its features. We also learned a lot about serial communication via Bluetooth which was a field we had no prior experience in. Additionally we learned how to use the u8g2 library to control multiple displays on the Arduino, which levels up our hardware game.

What's next for FRoute

Looking ahead, we aim to further enhance FRoute by incorporating user feedback and expanding our feature set. A couple things we would have added had we the time:

  • ability to set up a user profile to specify what kinds of locations the user would want to see (restaurants, local attractions, etc.)
  • full GPS capability, updating directions automatically as the user walked (though we feel the more manual approach suited the "adventure" use case of this product :)
  • ability to set range of locations to look for, and possibly time it would take to get there
  • explore partnerships with local businesses, community FRoute challenges/events
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