I could use some ideas for an upcoming project. There is a small "Tech" group starting up in my town and the organizer is looking at taking the leap of actually having people "check in" when they show up. I asked what I could do to help and this was the area he was a little lost on. So the sane answer is a sign in sheet, but that is very boring. He did a "show and tell" for the first time at the last event and most people seem to be software developers and graphic designers though there was a general understanding of Arduino. I got a fair bit of attention with my simple project. I thought this might be a good opportunity to make the sign in based on an Arduino project and make it more fun.
The deets:
-The group mostly uses Meetup. Could this be integrated using their API?
-there will be a projector and screen set up with internet
-needs to be quick and easy
-I was looking at a php page someone wrote that offers some "check in" functionality http://www.zipfolio.net/meetup/index.php
Resources:
-I currently have a Arduino UNO with an ethernet sheild and an array of the usual sensors and LEDS, etc.
-I have a stumbling understanding of PHP and have successfully used my UNO as a server and client. I have used an analog input to update a MySql database. The event organizer is a Java programmer so that is a resource as well.
-I may also have access to a raspberry pi, though I have not played with one yet.
Thoughts:
Seems the most straight forward thing would be someway to enter thier Meetup ID that would then "check them in" to the event. I don't have one yet, but maybe a rotory encoder to select the individual digits on a simple interface running in "Processing?"
If all of that would just slow the process down than maybe just a light, siren, etc that would trigger each time someone "checked in?"
I am sure I am leaving off important details, but I wanted to get this idea out there. Any ideas or thoughts are greatly appreciated.