A Solar-Powered IoT Connected Physical Mailbox Interfaced with Smart Devices

In this age of electronic communication, checking the physical mailbox is still part of our daily life. Mailboxes are placed several meters away from the house, and sometimes across the opposite side of a street. It is annoying to walk to the mailbox each day and realize that the mailbox is empty. In this paper, an Internet of Things (IoT)-connected smart mailbox is developed that automatically sends a notification to the smartphone whenever new mail arrives. This notification removes the frustration of an unnecessary trip to the mailbox. The proposed mailbox contains a low power device comprising of sensors, a system-on-chip microcontroller with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and a rechargeable battery that charges with a solar panel. Whenever the mailbox door is closed, it checks the presence of mail and then sends the data to a hub using BLE. The hub is placed inside the house and sends a push notification to the smartphone using the home Wi-Fi. A smart speaker, Google Home, is also interfaced with the system, which can verbally say the status of the mailbox when asked a customized question. A prototype of the smart mailbox, the hub, and the smartphone app is developed and tested successfully.