Identifying Tool Thieves with a DIY Toolroom Management System

Most of us have learned to simply refuse any requests to borrow tools that are made by people we don’t trust. But sometimes that isn’t an option, such as in a makerspace where lots of people have access to the tools. To thwart tool thieves — both intentional and unintentional — Bob Clagett of the I Like To Make Stuff YouTube channel built this toolroom management system.

Clagett’s system lets tool users check out and check in the tools they need by scanning RFID tags stuck onto those tools. Each tool’s RFID tag has a unique identifier, so the system knows the status of every individual tool. And whenever someone checks out a tool, the system snaps a photo of them and emails that to Clagett. The result is a record of every tool’s current handler, which is completely infallible (so long as everyone sticks to the scanning routine).

The whole system is built around the new Arduino UNO Q. It has an RFID scanner monitored by its microcontroller, which sends scan information to the single-board computer (SBC) side. The SBC side logs the scan, captures a photo through a USB webcam, and emails Clagett. It then tells the microcontroller to show a nifty icon on the LED matrix, giving the user confirmation of the successful scan.