Arduino GSM Shield Tutorial

In this video, I'll show you how to use an Arduino GSM shield (around £10, from e.g. BangGood - https://bit.ly/31Qr9Ka) to send SMS text messages or make outbound calls from an Arduino UNO over the regular mobile cellphone network, and to control components - maglocks, lights, motors, or pretty much anything else you can imagine - based on incoming messages or calls received.

While there are some existing companies that offer functionality to place SMS messages or make calls via an online service, they either incur a cost (e.g. Twilio), or are only available in certain countries (e.g. Google Voice). They also introduce a dependency on third-party servers to process your data. But since mobile phone providers don't generally charge for incoming calls or to receive text messages, in this project you can use a free Pay-As-You-Go SIM card (from, e.g. http://freesim.vodafone.co.uk/) to send SMS text messages or call your Arduino and it will cost you nothing to use!

This project could have lots of playful applications - and, although it's unusual for players to be allowed to use their own mobile phones in an escape room, there are many similar puzzle hunt experiences in which players interact with characters in the game. I'll show you how to adapt the script to configure different behaviour and responses based on the time, incoming caller ID, or content of an incoming SMS message. You could extend this to create an "A.I." bot that could have complex dialogue trees and narrative interation with a player. And, because the player is using their own phone to text a real mobile phone number from which responses are sent back, it can create a highly-immersive storytelling experience.

Download the code, diagrams, and additional resources for all my projects on my Patreon page:
  / playfultech