Overview
Did you know there’s a difference between pressure washers and power washers? Neither did we until this project. We were hired by Simpson to help convert their classic pressure washers into next generation, smart power tools. We worked with hardware and software engineers in order to create, then access sensors to measure valuable data like temperature, flow, and levels.
The Problem
A unique challenge with this project is that our client wanted the experience on mobile web as opposed to a mobile app. This presented some challenges in finding a way that we could have a constant stream of data to constantly analyze the flow and levels in realtime to prevent damage to the machines. Also, we needed to ensure the person monitoring the dashboard could stand at a safe distance from the tool operator, but close enough to transfer data.
Our Solution
Our solution to wirelessly stream real time data from the Raspberry Pi-powered sensors on the pressure washer to the user’s phone was to leverage the experimental Web Bluethooth API. We designed a web app dashboard that would show all of the devices operating on a team and allow the manager to dig in to any one to look at live data and changes over time.
