Pubs have reopened but the threat of covid hasn’t yet passed, social distancing is key but how do you know if the toilets are free without going in to the toilets? This is the problem I was given to solve by a friend who runs The Castle Tap in Reading.

The solution I’m building, and installing tomorrow, is a combination of motion sensors to detect when someone enters the main room, distance sensors to track it someone is sat on the throne or in front of the urinals, and a footswitch either end of the alley way to control a traffic light.

It’s gloriously over engineered but should work a treat! I’ll be writing up how to build and install it as well as a video demo and all the code needed to build one if anyone else has need.

This setup uses the same radio transceivers in planning on using in future robotics projects so excellent learnings for those!