Laundry Information Notification Technology (LINT) is a low-cost, scalable laundry monitoring system. It displays the status of the washers and dryers on a website and sends notifications to users when their machine is finished.

LINT began as a project at the Computer and Electrical Engineering Club at Geneva college. Since then, development and ownership has shifted to Timothy Johnson and Michael Parkinson.

The two main reasons that we are developing LINT are usefulness and personal experience. Sometimes communal laundry rooms just don't work perfectly, and we are trying to improve that experience for ourselves and our friends. Additionally, LINT gives a lot of experience in many different fields, as well as general skills like teamwork and time management. It is also good content for a resume.

Yes; students are not required to pay anything to use LINT. Our primary mission is to serve our fellow Geneva students by making their laundry experience better, not more expensive. However, if you would like to make a donation to help speed up development and fund better equipment, please contact us.

We have been in communication with Geneva administration as well as the Executive Vice President of CSC ServiceWorks (the company that rents the machines to Geneva), and we currently only have permission from CSC ServiceWorks to install LINT in the Young North laundry room. We are still optimistic, but the answer to this question is unknown.

Very much so! We are college students so we don't always have free time, but when we do, we are thinking of ways to improve every aspect of LINT.

There is a lengthy answer to this question in the About page. The quick summary is that magnetic sensors monitor the machines and the Raspberry Pi interprets, processes, and sends this data to the database and website. A neural network is being used to interpret the sensor data.

A Raspberry Pi is a small $35 PC about the size of a credit card. It runs the Linux operating system, and can do most things a regular computer can (check email, play games, surf the web, etc.). One thing the RPi has that most PC's don't is GPIO ports, which allow input/output from sensors and circuits.

We use custom 3D-printed clips to attach magnetic hall-effect sensors to the machine power cords. They sense the magnetic field generated from current running through the cord. We do not "hack" the machines by opening them up or tapping into their circuits; these sensors are easily detachable.

Yes. The website is secured with HTTPS, which is the standard. Websites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook use HTTPS security as well. Additionally, we store a hashed (encrypted) version of your LINT password in our database, so even if someone got access to the database, they would not be able to use your account.

If/when LINT is installed in other dormitories, all accounts will be stored in the same database. If you change your dormitory, you will still be able to use your original account, and LINT will automatically change your default location to that dorm.

You can sign up for an account if you don't have one yet, or sign in if you already do. The LINT website and laundry room kiosk use the same accounts, so you can log in with the same credentials.

You can use your LINT username and password to log in on the website and in the laundry room. You can also sign in on the kiosk by swiping your Geneva ID (as long as you've linked it to your account). When you are done, you can either swipe again to log out, click "log out," or if you are inactive for long enough you will be logged off automatically.

Accounts that are not used for 180 days are deleted to save on memory. Whenever you log in, this 180-day timer is reset. If your account does happen to be deleted, it is easy to make a new one.

Yes, mostly. When you enter your phone number, you also need to indicate what carrier (Verizon, Sprint, etc.) you have. This is because LINT sends texts as emails, and doing so requires the carrier. Most common carriers are listed as options, but if yours is not, please contact us and we will try to add it. We currently do not have a LINT app for Android or iOS, but that is something we hope to add in the future.

Including the Raspberry Pi and its accessories, the touchscreen, the circuitry, etc., the materials for LINT cost about $140 per laundry room plus ~$1.50 per machine.

Usually; however, there have a few reports of Pumpkin Pis spontaneously materializing and annihilating our Raspberry Pis in a violent explosion. Please be aware.

We will occasionally have surveys about ease of use or potential new features, and any input would be extremely helpful. If you believe you have specific skills that would be useful to the LINT Team, please contact us.