redeFIND is an innovative way to find lost items using a photo-based website. This system allows the finder to upload a picture of the lost item onto a website and the loser to scroll through the site and see if their item has been found. Many schools and businesses have a lost-and-found location where finders of lost items can deposit found goods. redeFIND is similar in that it provides a bin to collect lost items, but it adds a webcam and a simple interface so that finders can communicate online where the lost item is. redeFIND consists of a bin made of wood and plexiglass with high-tech components including an ArduCAM Mini camera shield connected to an ESP8266 WiFi module (programmable with the Arduino IDE), a few NeoPixels, and a battery pack, and wheels. These work in conjunction to create an easy way for the finder to take a picture of the lost item and upload it to the website. To use redeFIND, the finder presses the green button to initiate the process. Within the span of 4 seconds, indicated by flashing lights, they stand on the red feet provided and hold the lost item to their chest. When the last light flashes, the picture is taken and uploaded onto the website. The finder then throws the item into the bin. The loser can scroll through the website, see the location of the redeFIND bin, and retrieve their lost item.

When someone loses an item at our school, the chance of it returning to its owner is slim. The system currently in place at Wayland High School is disorganized, and losers don’t know whether their item has been found or where it has been placed. Several surveyed students agreed: this problem is common and needs a solution. This was the idea that sparked the creation of redeFIND.

The initial redeFIND design idea was a little different from the eventual end product. For our first prototype, the bin was made of cardboard and tape. We also set up the camera facing down on a tripod with a mat below it that indicated the location of the product. The original idea was to place the lost item on this mat and take the picture that way, but that would require that we build a table, and we decided it was too much work for something that wasn’t necessary. And, with the camera taking pictures of people with the products, we transformed the project into something social, which we think may make it much more popular. For us, it took a lot of work to figure out the coding and technological aspect of our project. At one point when we were having difficulty progressing, we thought of the idea to use a Polaroid instant camera instead. That way we could pin the pictures on a cork board and people could search for their lost items through that. In the end, though, this was too expensive and wouldn’t allow the losers of the items to search remotely, so we decided to stay on the technological track. Another thought we had was to use a Particle Photon (a WiFi-enabled microcontroller) to take  the photos and send them to the website, but we found a good tutorial that used the less expensive ESP8266 WiFi-enabled microcontroller instead, so we used that.  We found that this device could not connect to our school WiFi under the current security policies, so we modified out design to have the ESP8266 become an access point that could connect to a local computer that had our  website code on it. The idea for the website was fluid as well; the prototype was first created with basic HTML code. We then tried to get a hosted website through Wix, but for the free version we did not have sufficient ability to control the site code. In the end we decided to stick with the locally hosted website. We also thought of implementing a spring-loaded floor that adjusts its height depending on the weight of items in the bin so as to make it easier to reach things, but we didn’t have enough time.

As of now, redeFIND isn’t fully functional. Ideally, when someone presses the green button, the whole system would work and a picture would be taken and uploaded to the website. When we tried to integrate the button and light control into the photo-taking code on our spare ESP8266 board, we accidentally fried the board and didn’t want to risk frying our only other board just days before our Expo. Our compromise was to use an Arduino to show the behavior of the buttons and flashing lights and to use our computer to control the photo taking on the ESP8266.  During the innovation Expo, we pressed a button on our computer as the user pressed the green button to simulate the integrated process. In addition, our website is not accessible from the internet. Because of school policies, Wayland High School doesn’t allow our device to connect to the network. To change this, we set up a petition that was signed by over 100 people and we plan to present it to school administrators.

Our future iterations of redeFIND will incorporate ideas heard during our testing and past plans that we never implemented due to time limits. These include the spring-loaded floor, creating multiple redeFIND units to place around the school, connecting the redeFIND website to the school WiFi so it can be used by everyone, sketching a redeFIND logo into the plexiglass, and painting the bin to make it more aesthetically pleasing. We also want to implement a screen so the finder who is taking the picture can see themselves and their positioning in relation to the camera. Once these additions are set in motion, redeFIND can hopefully help students in our school and in others to find any items that they may have lost.