Automated Dorm Room Causes a School Inquiry

First time accepted submitter ElectronicHouseGrant writes "Freshman Derek Low rigged up his Berkeley dorm room with something he calls B.R.A.D., which is short for 'Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm.' The room includes automated lighting, drapes, music, motion detection, and more. He can control everything through voice recognition, but a wireless remote, his iPhone and his iPad are also in on the control party. Derek started the install on February 4 and finished just a few days ago."

Consumer grade crapware?

[LoudMusic]

That just looks like a hodgepodge of cheap consumer crap he picked up at Home Depot and literally taped to the walls and ceiling of the dorm room. He even runs free apps on his Apple products to control that stuff.

Where's the fit and finish of quality hackery? Practically any geek with a spare couple of weekends could throw this together.

Re:School inquiry?

[cayenne8]

Oh and the fog machine. My dorm didn't allow gasoline and oil products in the rooms, to discourage people from putting their scooter in the room, or doing oil changes in the dorms. Maybe they're worked up about fog juice and treating it as automotive lubrication oil.

Yeah, all dorms have rules...but they never really enforced any of them...at least not in my day at LSU.

I mean, we weren't supposed to have hot plates or anything to heat up food...we did. You weren't supposed to have kegs in your room....we did (after dorm crawfish boils, the left over kegs followed us into our room, as did the RA's that we befriended).

Hell, you weren't supposed to have women in your dorm room over night, but I know a guy who had his chick living with him (and his room mate) for a whole semester. Basically in our dorm...there could have basically been an ax murderer come out and take out a whole floor...and no one would have noticed till a week or so later when the smell got even worse that usual.

*sigh*..those were the days. I remember the 2 day poker/Bourré games we played on a table we'd stolen from a study room, and placed in the elevator....and just rode up and down playing all weekend straight....only taking breaks to pee, grab some food...and replenish the beer in the cooler.