UNO Q toolroom management keeps loaner tools from disappearing

In particularly well-organized professional settings, you’ll find toolrooms where employees can check out the tools they need for specific jobs. The system prevents tools from walking off or going missing. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something like that in your own workshop? Bob Clagett designed an Arduino UNO Q-based system that achieves that dream.

This system can’t actually locate a missing drill or 10mm socket, but it can tell Clagett who checked out the tool last and when they did so. He can then go confront that person and demand the tool’s return — or at least compensation or retribution. 

It works using a database, hosted on the Arduino UNO Q’s single-board computer (SBC) side. A USB webcam snaps a photo of the checker-outer when they check out a tool. And an RFID reader connected to the UNO Q’s microcontroller side scans RFID stickers stuck to the tools. So, scanning a tool’s RFID tag marks the tool as “checked out” in the database, assigns a timestamp, and captures a photo. The Arduino then sends an email to Caglett with that information and the photo.

Scanning the same RFID tag again will check the tool in. And after registering each scan event, the Arduino displays an icon on its LED matrix to indicate success.

That hardware all went into a 3D-printed enclosure that Caglett can place in a convenient location in his workshop. Now, there will never be any question about who has that missing 10mm socket — assuming everyone is fastidious about scanning.