Potty Ping

The Project

Potty Ping is a smart reminder system that helps people build healthier bathroom habits by increasing their awareness of how long they spend sitting on the toilet. It uses sensors to detect when someone is seated on the toilet and sends an alert after a set amount of time. The sensor is paired with a phone app where users can customize alert times, receive notifications, and track their usage data. The project was inspired by a common problem I noticed: people often plan to sit down for only a minute, but distractions like phones, videos, and social media make them lose track of time. For example, I once spent almost twenty minutes in the bathroom when I had planned to start my homework. This showed that the real issue is not just laziness, but the lack of feedback. The difficult part was figuring out how to make the system work automatically and reliably. Unlike a normal timer app, Potty Ping has to detect toilet use without user input and connect hardware with software. It was also challenging to design the project in a way that felt helpful instead of annoying or embarrassing. Through testing and feedback, I focused on making it simple and customizable.

View this project on YouTube