The Challenge
Manual record entry is error-prone and time-consuming. Paper-based methods in offices and schools became a hygiene concern during the pandemic. The challenge was building a contactless, automated system that could capture data from hardware and surface it in a live dashboard.
The Idea
Building a RFID based Record Entry System
Covid Pandemic has impacted the way we use to use things, now Zero Contact interaction has become a new normal. In Offices/Schools, often paper based method are used for record keeping, but now since objects can potentially act as carriers of covid virus.
The Idea is to build an IOT solution which can authorize a person and upload the relevant information to Cloud. Also to have real time dashboard which shows the stats based upon interaction of RFID Card with NodeMCU Microcontroller
Tech Stack
Arduino Starter Kit is required to build the hardware part. RFID Reader RC522 Module is used to send the information from Card to NodeMCU, which in turn make a network call to save the Data in cloud. React is used to create the Dashboard screens , it fetches the real time information from the cloud.
Steps to create the project is explained in the above video.
Demo
In Order to test the hardware, you need to have a Arduino starter kit. Code to burned on microcontroller is available in the repo. The Real Time Dashboard with past records is available here.
What I Learned
Hardware projects teach patience. Unlike software where you can hot-reload, physical devices require careful debugging and often reveal issues only in real-world conditions. The feedback loop is much slower — and that forces you to think more carefully before you build.