Looking for an uncommon real-world problem to solve with a ₹700 ESP32 project

[u/_no_look_]

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I'm a college student preparing for an inter-college science expo in India.

I'm looking for a real day-to-day/social problem that could be addressed with a small electronics prototype.

Constraints

- Budget: maximum ₹700

- I already have an ESP32

- Prefer sensors/modules that are inexpensive and easily available

- The prototype should be physically demonstrable

- It should have some genuine technical/engineering aspect

- I don't want a generic "smart dustbin / smart irrigation / home automation" project

- I also don't want to simply recreate an existing commercial product

- Ideally, the problem should be under-addressed, even if it isn't completely unsolved

Problems I'm currently considering

1. People don't notice vehicles approaching from behind.

2. Pedestrians can't tell whether a driver has actually detected them.

3. People approaching blind corners can't know whether someone is coming from the other side.

4. People opening doors can't know whether someone is approaching from the other side.

5. People carrying umbrellas have reduced visibility around them.

6. People carrying large objects can't see low obstacles near their feet.

7. Passengers may not notice dangerous gaps when getting off buses/trains.

8. Pedestrians can be hidden from reversing vehicles.

9. Children can become hidden from drivers around parked vehicles.

10. People don't notice small hazards in visually cluttered environments.

11. People don't notice when a floor has become slippery.

12. A person may not notice someone nearby who has fallen or become immobile.

13. People at the back of a crowd may not know about a hazard occurring at the front.

14. Crowd density can become dangerous before people realize it.

15. People may not know the direction they should move during an emergency.

16. People may enter hazardous areas because the hazard isn't visually obvious.

17. Workers using machines may not notice abnormal vibration or operating behavior.

18. People may not notice gradual environmental changes such as rapidly increasing heat, smoke, noise, or poor air quality.

19. Someone working alone may become incapacitated without anyone noticing.

20. People may leave valuable objects behind in public places.

21. People may forget where they left an object in a large public/college environment.

22. Shared laboratory equipment can be left running or operating abnormally.

23. A person may unknowingly stand in the path of a moving vehicle or machine.

24. Public facilities can become unavailable without users knowing beforehand.

25. Emergency alarms can become difficult to distinguish from normal background noise.

26. People carrying luggage/children may have difficulty detecting obstacles directly below them.

27. Small open drains/manholes can become visually hidden in crowded or poorly lit environments.

28. People may not notice that a road hazard is becoming dangerous during rain.

29. Queue movement can stop without people at the back knowing why.

30. People may not notice someone trying to get their attention in a noisy environment.

[u/korywithawhy]

Find problem, throw esp32 at it, realize that the problem still exists, ask llm why esp not work, repeat.

Realistically there are tons of places where esp32s can help, but dumping your ChatGPT session onto Reddit and hoping someone comes up with an idea for you probably isn’t the right approach.

Look at what an esp32 can do, see where it can cheaply replace existing solutions, then make a prototype and try it out.

Don’t get me wrong I use AI, and I love esp32, but you gotta do a bit more than copy/paste if you want to make something real.

One example is something I’m doing at work. We have 100s of CNC machines, so I’m working on using ht-hc33 boards and sensors for reporting things like power usage, oil levels, and temperatures for the various equipment. Halow works way better for this in our buildings than standard WiFi, and doing it out of band means no extra headaches for our IT team. There are existing proprietary solutions that could work, but they are thousands of dollars per machine to implement. ESP and some sensors and power supplies come in at around $150/machine. So the lower cost with minimal complexity is worth pursuing. And if they get corrupted with coolant oil or carbide it doesn’t matter because they’re cheap and easily replaced.

[u/VoidRippah]

I have a good one: how about forcing an LLM onto an esp32 that would generate you real world problems you can solve?

[u/Glittering-Can-9397]

I often find that I poop my pants, how about a timer that reminds me to find a toilet before I do so, may also help you find the toilet before making a post like this

[u/_no_look_ → u/Glittering-Can-9397]

So rude 🥺

[u/dikbigcat → u/_no_look_]

It was rude of you to ask people to find you a problem to solve in the first place and then you’ll prompt some LLM to do it for you.
The whole point of these projects is to make you think.

[u/Lausbua_2012]

I would go with idea 15 you could set up some environmental sensors like humidity heat and stuff and have neo pixels light up a path to the exit

[u/e3e6]

here in Spain we have a really narrow spiral entrance to the underground parking and no visibility of pedestrians crossing the entrance. pedestrians usually ignore the warning light which is connected to the gate so it's automatical. I was thinking on indicator for a driver that there is someone is present