In our last blog post, we took an in-depth look at the hardware and embedded processes behind Mohammad’s SmartCabinet. “When I started the project, my deadline was the senior design fair, roughly 5 months out. Looking at the scope of work and time it would take to put it all together, I thought the project was going to be impossible, at least in that small frame of time. UniKey’s platform expedited the process though, making it possible for me to meet that deadline.”
When we sat down with Mohammad one of the first questions we asked him was: What did you feel was the biggest pain point throughout the entire project? Naturally, “bringing the cabinet online” was his response. This problem, which was nearly identical to what UniKey had to overcome with the deadbolt, was a perfect match for the company’s mobile key platform. The hardware, as we alluded to in the previous How it’s Made post, was just half of what Hammad had to tackle on the road to bringing his product online. As with any connected device, functionality and user experience is also wildly contingent on the product’s firmware, software, and mobile applications.
The Software & Mobile Applications
In order to bring his SmartCabinet online, Hammad first had to build his mobile app. Utilizing UniKey’s mobile SDK and support, Hammad fashioned a custom Android app, powered by UniKey for all BLE communication and security protocols. To enable mobile access control, Hammad had to connect his mobile application with the hardware we mentioned in the previous post. “The entire security protocol and BLE processes are supported by UniKey’s platform and SDK, ensuring we’d feature a robust and trusted security architecture. This allowed me to have an accredited security protocol and the ability to focus on the features that are unique to my product”, Hammad adds.
Moreover, Hammad explained that UniKey’s app interfaced perfectly with all of the functions he wanted to feature on the SmartCabinet, including Touch-to-Open® and Inside/Outside Intelligence®. The software and mobile apps created through UniKey’s SDKs were also flexible enough to include a log of the cabinet’s weight-sensor, along with other unique functions. This was an added touch Hammad wanted in his product in order to allow users to see a real-time log of their belongings which are being tracked in the cabinet; granting them a stronger peace of mind in seeing the contents untouched. Additionally, similar to UniKey’s smart locks, users of the SmartCabinet are able to send eKeys from its mobile app. It also offers them the same level of control over the device as the app displays the cabinet’s lock status. Together, with Hammad’s vision, hard work, and some help from UniKey’s components, users are given a sophisticated, connected experience.
Putting the Pieces Together
“Producing the SmartCabinet took me several weeks of dedicated time and labor, but I’m incredibly happy with the results”, states Hammad. Having seen and even tried out this mobile key enabled SmartCabinet, we can add that the product is anything but a commonday piece of storage. It’s also a direct example of what anyone can do with UniKey’s mobile key platform. Roughly five months ago, Hammad’s cabinet was just a dormant piece of storage. Today it’s an automated, intelligent safe that can be observed in real-time and enable the same smart, passive features UniKey enabled locks and readers are known for. To read the last two posts on Hammad’s SmartCabinet, or to learn more about UniKey’s platform visit unikey.com
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