SEAL: System of Electromagnetic Assisted Locking

During the 2018-2019 school year, our team was selected as a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam. Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams are teams of high school students, educators, and mentors that receive grants of up to 10,000 dollars each to provide technological solutions to real-world problems.  We received a 10,000 dollar grant to develop and build our invention, and the opportunity to present our invention at the end of the year at MIT to other InvenTeams and members of the MIT community. At MIT, we were able to see the brilliance of other school’s project as well as presenting our own and sharing our ideas and prototypes. We were able to get advice from members of the MIT community, including graduate students and professors. We received many ideas to guide us in the future of our project and are grateful for the opportunity to showcase our invention from the Lemelson-MIT foundation. 

New Prototype! We have successfully designed and received our PCB’s and we are very excited to start using them. We have also switched from arduino microcontrollers to pic16 microcontrollers and other new sensors, which will significantly reduce power consumption. We have also discovered a new way to attach our device to the trash can using suction cups, and are excited to test and tinker with them. We have designed a new case to use with the suction cups and have also switched to lithium-polymer batteries to save space and also be sustainable.  The suction cups are important because we found out that physically modifying the trash can voids it's warranty. We have been working on ways to attach our device that will provide enough strength without voiding the warranty. Finally, we moved to a modular case that will give us greater flexibility if we need to exchange or modify components. We are getting the device smaller and smaller with each prototype, and are excited to keep improving our device.

May 2013

We have decided to try a prototype using a PCB design rather than a system of Arduinos. This has meant that we learned to code a new microcontroller in a new language, and we learned a lot about PCB design in the process.  

April 2019

Our second prototype is up and running! This prototype is very similar to the original, with the major exception being that this prototype has been reduced in size by switching from an Arduino Uno to an Arduino Metro mini.  Additionally, we have created a new case for the device that is now modular so that we can replace parts of the device more easily.  

February 2019

As part of the grant cycle, we held a mid-grant technical review to showcase our invention to stakeholders and the community to receive input and feedback.  At this event we had our first functioning prototype.  The details of the prototype are provided but there are several drawbacks, mainly that it was attached to the trash can by screwing through the front of the can.  This voids the warranty and we are trying to avoid that if possible! 

October 2018

We received great news!!! We were selected as one of the Lemelson-MIT Inventeams for the 2018-2019 school year.  This meant that we had $10,000 to spend on our project and we were so excited to begin!

August 2018

This year school happens to start right before the final round of applications are due for the grant proposal, meaning the minute we get to school we already have a 10 page paper to write. Luckily we were up to the challenge and we received a bunch of support from our community for making it through the first round.  We had a STEM breakfast to celebrate and local representatives applauded our progress thus far. 

May 2018

The initial idea for the invention is brought to the coaches and we submitted our application to the Lemelson-MIT Inventeam program.  We were selected to make it past the first round and sent a coach to MIT in June to learn more.  Summer begins and we start planning and gathering details.