Boot Alarm – Part 1: Introduction
Here’s a video introduction. I’m not used to being on camera, so be gentle.
As you’ve read in the “About” page (I know that’s the first thing you did when you got to the page), I just recently joined the US Navy. Â As with other navies in the world, we have our share of odd customs and the Seabees are no exception. If you are the junior Ensign in a Seabee command, you become “The Boot Ensign” or just “The Boot”. The Boot has the illustrious job of doing all the odd jobs that nobody else wants to do, being subject to ridicule, and carrying around a black boot filled with concrete to all command social functions. I am not the boot Ensign. I’m actually the senior Ensign, called “The Bull Ensign” and technically it is my responsibility to make sure all the other Ensigns in the command are squared away and doing what they’re supposed to. I say technically because in reality, there’s only two Ensigns, Mike and me, and since we entered and graduated OCS together, I’m only considered senior because my last name starts “Bi” and his starts with “Bo”. It took us awhile to come to that conclusion.
One of the joys of being The Boot Ensign is that other people are actively trying to steal the boot. The rule is that the boot can be stolen whenever the boot is left unattended, but force is not permitted. If the boot is stolen, whoever stole it is only limited by their imagination in what terrible and/or embarrassing tasks must be done in order to earn the boot back.
It is my goal to create some sort of Boot Alarm so that people cannot steal the boot without us knowing it. I want something simple and easy to use, small, hard to circumvent, and cheap. In the process of designing and building this, I will keep you posted with everything I learn, and hope you’ll leave tips and feedback when you see a better way to do things. At this point, I’m still not sure where we’re going to head with this. I’m trying to keep an open mind to make sure I don’t reject better ideas out of hand.
I hope this turns out to be a learning experience for all of us and look forward to the challenges that will be presented in creating the best Boot Alarm in the world. Being the only Boot Alarm in the world, I most certainly hope it merits that title.
Comments
Comment from Joshua
Time February 15, 2010 at 7:07 am
Nice. I like the idea because it is definitely another level of ECE geekiness. Unfortunately, it only stops someone from touching the rebar, the boot itself can be picked up from the soles and spirited away. I’m currently writing the next post on the brainstorming process and I’ll definitely include this in there. If time/budget permits, maybe I’ll include a Theremin circuit just for the coolness.
Comment from Brian C
Time February 15, 2010 at 6:43 pm
The field will extend quite a distance from the antenna (ever see someone play a Theramin?). If anyone gets within a foot of the boot, you’ll be able to detect it. You could also add a capacitive circuit since the sole of the boot is an insulator.
Comment from Joshua
Time February 16, 2010 at 12:13 am
This is my fault for leaving out some of the requirements. A false positive is much worse than the boot actually getting stolen. The Seabee Lounge, where our weekly meetings are held, is fairly small (and ghetto), meaning the boot is in relatively close proximity to people. If it starts making sounds while one of the Captains is speaking, we’ll probably get a pass the first time because it’s a novelty. The second time and there’ll be repercussions. But a less sensitive circuit (starting a couple of inches out), while not much of a deterrent, would be unbelievably cool.
Comment from Chief
Time March 20, 2010 at 2:08 am
Ensign, I’m sure that by now you should know that if you have a problem you can always find a Chief Petty Officer to show you the way to enlightenment. Instead of a proximity alarm why not something that requires the boot to actually be stolen before it alarms. If the boot doesn’t leave your presence it can’t actually be said to have been stolen. The high tech / high dollar / Navy way would be GPS but I think that RFID would be a more ‘elegant’ way. An RFID tag that ‘The Boot’ keeps on his person and an alarm that trips when the tag is out of range might work.
An even simpler method would be a vibration or tilt alarm that you could turn on or off. SPST, Battery, piezo alarm and mercury switch…
Comment from Joshua
Time March 25, 2010 at 5:11 am
Chief, I showed your comment to the Senior Chief I’ve been working with on this project (and many others). He’s a Builder and can do amazing things with mainly wood but also basically any other material. I need to get the innards done because I definitely would like his help with making the boot a good cradle for the electronics. Unfortunately, he has been unable to help too much on the technical side, but I figure that’s why we work well together.
I like your thoughts, I think you just missed the next post: http://www.ece101.com/2010/03/boot-alarm-part-2-brainstorming/ I’ll add a link in the text of this post.
Sadly, though I’ve been working on this for the Boot, somebody stole my bull horns while I was gone for two weeks. I guess when this is done I’ll have to put together another version for the horns. And I still don’t know who it was who stole it…
Comment from Joshua
Time February 5, 2011 at 8:43 am
To follow up on that last comment (from March 25) it was my boss, a LCDR who stole them and did nothing for nearly six months. I finally found out that it was her and pulled some serious office pranks on her for about two weeks before I finally got them back.
Comment from CMC (SCW) David Riordan
Time March 31, 2011 at 10:52 am
Sir, it is good to see that you have put the most valuable and useful member of your team in the picture. If your boot ever gets lonely he can find comfort in the NMCB 27’s Chief’s Mess, right next to our Boot Ensign’s Boot. The wayward charge of the wardroom can be found on facebook at bootensignsboot@yahoo.com.
V/R
NMCB 27 Chiefs Mess
Comment from Joshua
Time May 6, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Chief,
Thanks for the comment, I actually made a huge push and finished the first prototype literally hours before my LTJG promotion ceremony. It worked flawlessly during the ceremony but the guy I’d asked to videotape it was sick and I didn’t get enough notice to arrange something else. I was very disappointed.
You can check out my profile on eeweb.com to see all of the updates and other projects I’m working on.
V/r,
Josh
Comment from Brian C
Time February 13, 2010 at 11:57 pm
I don’t know about you, but when I saw that rebar sticking out of the boot, my first thought was: Antenna! An oscillator attached to the rebar, and a small speaker would alert you with a nice squeal when anyone gets close to the boot. Take a look at Theremin circuits for some ideas