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Team Members
Colleen Miller, Eric St. Onge, Michael Katayama, and Gene Lu The Problem
According to the American Society of Microbiology, studies show that 97% of females and 92% of males say they wash their hands, but in actuality, only 75% of females and 58% of males actually did wash. In middle and high schools, 50% of the students say they wash, but only 33% of females and only 8% of males used soap while washing hands.  Informal Men's Restroom Observations The Solution
The handwash tracker is a system that informs people outside of the bathroom whether or not the current bathroom user has washed their hands. It also keeps track of the level of cleanliness of that bathroom, which is based on the average number of users that have washed their hands. Prototype 1
The first prototype consisted of an arduino board that was programmed to detect the following inputs: 1) door lock, which engaged the system whenever the door was locked, and 2) soap dispenser, which determined whether or not the bathroom patron washed their hands. The outputs were as follows: 1) meter display showing the level of cleanliness of the bathroom, and 2) an LED that lights up whenever a user washes their hands.  Handwashing Prototype, take 1! Observations with Prototype 1
As with all prototypes, especially initial ones, we had a couple of hiccups come up: - 9V battery died quickly
- In addition to being alerted when the last patron washed, it would also be helpful to know if they didn't
- After many uses of the restroom, the output ratio of clean vs. dirty did not move the meter significantly
- The force sensor in the soap dispenser was being crushed
Prototype 2
In this second prototype, we increased the life span of the battery by sleeping the servo motor (the pointer on the meter) when the system was not in use. We also added additional outputs for non-washers along with a surprisingly effective "occupied" light. In regards to the output ratio of clean vs. dirty, we edited the percentage to be based on a moving average. As for the force sensor, we hacked the soap dispenser with a wire connected to the metal soap box and another wire connected to a sheet of foil behind the dispenser button making this a large version of a momentary switch. Observations with Prototype 2
After making our changes, we found that the second prototype was much more effective with it's additional outputs. To get a better idea as to how it turned out, check out our demonstration of the system.  Prototype 2  Rewiring the Handwashing Tracker with additional outputs  Hacked Soap Dispenser
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