Creating a GPS Treasure Box
Andrew did a write up of one of his projects that we would love to share. We wish you all a happy ❤️Valentines Day!❤️ — Many years ago I came across the idea for a GPS treasure box, from a post originally by Kenton Harris (I think - apologies if it was somebody else). Some called it a reverse geocache too, but in simple terms, it’s a locked box that only opens at a certain location. The idea behind the box was a very simple interaction - one button, and a screen. The process would go like this: Press button Screen lights up, and GPS begins scanning Screen tells you how many attempts you have left Once GPS has location, the distance from the target location in kilometers is shown One attempt is removed from total # of attempts Screen turns off Eventually, the target location would be found (and the box unlocks), or the attempts will run out and the box will be sealed shut forever! Inspired to create a fun adventure for myself and a friend on a weekend in Spain, I ordered all the relevant components including GPS module, Arduino Uno, batteries and a servo motor to lock the box. This was back in January of 2020. Ah, how times change… — Fast forward to January of 2023. I’d moved back to Sydney years prior and still had all of these components sitting around. I knew I’d get to this project one day. I came across a local makerspace with access to a laser cutter. This was the missing ingredient I needed - not only were there the facilities I needed to create the treasure box, there was also vibrant community of people who had done similar things before. I started out by gathering some code to power the project, and thankfully found a number of helpful repositories on Github. I was able to clone one, and adapt it to the paricular hardware and display I was using pretty easily. Annoyingly I had to learn all about Baud rates and GPS modules - but I’m glad I did as I’m sure it will contribute to projects in the future. — At long last, the finished project was here. Not too shabby I thought, but it was time to put it to the test. I enlisted the help of my girlfriend. We began at home and she pressed the button. As a guess, she told me to head to Pyrmont, an inner-city suburb. So off we drove. Getting warmer! And still with heaps of attempts left. With the sun setting, we headed to a nice spot in Rose Bay, by the water. It was close enough to continue on foot, so we decided to put the dog in a backpack (I didn’t realise prior that he was not allowed in Sydney Harbour National Park, so I hope this was an OK compromise! Apologies to the national parks service). — Here, my true colours were revealed. I’d actually added some extra code into the mix - getting the box to ask a very important question on my behalf. And sure enough, the box opened on cue, revealing an exciting treasure hidden within!