A growing reliance on postal services.

Package security is a large concurrent issue that has been further bolstered by our increasing reliance on the postal service. Through the ongoing years, retail giants (i.e. JcPenney and Sears) have continuously closed and became scarce, being usurped by commercial sites such as Amazon and Ebay. The advent of the COVID Pandemic has pushed us into quarantine, and further bolstered the importance of online shopping as both a means of avoiding the spread of disease, as well as simply a more convenient means of merchandise reception. Thus, this growing dependency on postal packages directly correlates to a greater demand in safe package reception and security. This call is answered by our project, the Mail Gobbler 9000 (MG9K).

A cost efficient smart solution.

The MG9K is a smart dropbox that fortifies postal security through authentication of received packages. Barcodes for expected packages are preloaded by the user via a mobile application, as to validate received packages, which upon successful scan and validation unlocks the locked dropbox. Various quality of life features are included such as a dedicated mobile application for communication, unlocking mechanisms, and ability to display historic logs regarding package deliveries. Whereas solutions towards this means exist, the MG9K offers a low power system that solely relies on rechargeable batteries, to avoid the hassles of in-home wiring and electrical demand.

What is the MG9K?

The MG9K is a smart drop box that provides postal security through means of package barcode authorization. Users store expected package barcodes in an AWS backend through a mobile application, for which incoming packages need to match and verify with. Along with this means of security, the MG9K provides various quality of life features such as multiple unlocking mechanisms (mobile and physical backdoor),and display of historic logs. Compared with other competitive smart drop boxes on the market, the MG9K highlights in providing a power efficient and low cost means to fortify postal security.

Ideal Requirements:

The MG9K will meet or exceed the following system specifications:
1. Product will be able to quickly wake up from sleep, upon pressing a button.
2. Product will have a reliably LED that indicates on/sleep states, that also provides illumination for night time usage.
3. Product will have a dedicated and stable mobile user application.
4. Product will be able to communicate with the user via the mobile application, to unlock itself on user demand.
5. Product will be able to store a database of barcodes for expected packages, as uploaded by the user.
6. Product will have both the automated scanner means to unlock the dropbox, along with taking input from the mobile application to unlock the dropbox.
7. Product will have a backdoor with a physical key, in case the system fails.
8. Product will be able to provide services around the clock 24/7, and handle night time operation.
9. Product will be powered by rechargeable batteries to allow easy set up as compared to commercial means of wiring.

User Functionalities

The smart dropbox has a dedicated mobile app, (with example screenshots displayed on the right), that provides multiple functionalities. The mobile app allows a user to sign up and log on, store expected package bar codes, delete barcodes, unlock the box remotely, and view logs of scanned barcode instances and package delivery instances. Notifications are also enabled to user's email from sign up.

Construction

We've chosen to write our application with xCode, and have it work on iOS devices. It uses the AWS AppSynch service in order to to communicate with our AWS backend. This enables the app to access backend database tables along with using AWS IoT to communicate within the physical dropbox.

Drop Box Set Up and Usage

Our dropbox is quite easy to set up. Firstly, the user should charge the battery to its full capacity to maximize dropbox operations. In practice, we intend for the user to have two batteries such that they are able to charge one while the other is in use and interchange them quite easily. When powered, the dropbox will attempt to connect to Wi-Fi. If the dropbox has been set up already, it will automatically connect to local Wi-Fi saved in cache. Otherwise, it will emit its own Wi-Fi signal for the user to connect to and setup. This signal is named "MG9K_SetUp". After the user uses their phone or laptop to connect to the Wi-Fi, a user interface will appear either through a pop-up or the user's browser. There, we can see an option to configure Wi-Fi, which then displays the available networks and allows the user to enter the security credentials of their desired network. Upon success, the "MG9K_SetUp" Wi-Fi will disappear and the dropbox will be ready for operation. Place the box as desired for postal security.

Mobile Application Usage

When the user first uses the app, they will be greeted by the AWS Cognito login screen. Here they can either log in or sign up for an account. When signing up, the user will be asked to enter their email as a requirement. This is so that our backend operations can automatically subscribe the user to receive email notifications regarding changes in their barcodes delivery status. After logging in the user will see the MG9K interface. On the first page they have two primary operations, "Unlock" and "Barcode." The "Unlock" operation sends a message to their dropbox to unlock, either when the system is turned on or next turned on. The "Barcode" operation allows the user to enter a barcode that is sent to the AWS backend to be stored and authenticated for by the dropbox. In the second page, the user can see three logs being: Barcode, Package, along with a "Delete" feature. The Barcode log will display all the users barcodes with a value of delivered or not delivered. When first added, the barcode is defaulted to not delivered which is changed upon a successful dropbox authentication and delivery. The Package log displays the date and time that the users package had arrived. The delete functionality allows the user to delete barcodes from the table once used or too cluttered.