When I was a kid my father had a panic button under his desk that was wired to call 911. While I thought this was pretty cool at the time, it later occurred to me that he had this because the neighborhood that his business was located in was a bit rough, and — perhaps — we were in perpetual danger.
Nonetheless, I always thought the idea of having a panic button was pretty darn neat. Perhaps this notion stuck with me for so long of a time because I was never allowed to press it as a kid. It was ‘off limits,’ and thus a very appealing idea.
Now that I am an adult and have a desk of my own, I resolved that I too needed a panic button. However, I feel like one that calls 911 has limited use in my line of work, and my opportunity for panic was probably less severe. So, I decided that I needed to tone it down a bit. The under desk panic button that I have created dials my own phone when it’s pressed.
Of course, you may be wondering why on Earth I would want to call my own phone. Think of this way — an annoying coworker walks over to your desk with the intention of locking you into a long dull impromptu meeting. You have nowhere to run; nowhere to hide. There is only one way to get out of this — you need something more important to do. Perhaps now you can see how a device that places a call to yourself may come in extremely useful. If you still can’t see it, picture this; Your phone rings. You explain that you need to take this important call. In fact, this is going to take a while. You will need to continue this conversation later. Crisis averted thanks to the Desk Panic Button.
You will need:
(x1) Arduino Uno
(x1) GPRS shield
(x1) SIM card
(x1) CR1220 coin battery
(x1) Momentary button switch
(x2) 1/8″ mono jacks
(x1) 1/8″ male to male mono cable
(x1) Power jack
(x1) Power plug
(x1) 1″ x 2″ x 3″ project enclosure
(x1) 2″ x 2.5″ x 5″ project enclosure
(x1) 9V power supply
(x1) 12″ x 12″ x 1/8″ acrylic sheet
(x2) 1″ x 6-32 wood screw
(x1) 1″ x 4-40 nut and bolt
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