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MKR Keylock is an open-source IoT keypad for your front door

Arduino Team — February 16th, 2025

The age-old combination of physical locks and keys, although reliable, also comes with a few drawbacks, such as when you lose the key or you want to share access with someone else remotely. Davide Gomba has recognized this and built the MKR Keylock project as a way to address some of these shortcomings.

Starting with an existing electronic lock module, Gomba installed it in his door before identifying the circuit responsible for triggering it to open. Once found, he connected the line to a relay that, when triggered by a GPIO signal, will unlock the bolt. An Arduino MKR WiFi 1010 was then attached to a 4×4 keypad, a small buzzer for signaling an incorrect code, and another relay that runs to the doorbell for remote ringing. Thanks to the MKR board’s Wi-Fi connectivity, the firmware configures an MQTT client that listens to a few topics: “/code” to set the keypad code, “/open” to override the locking mechanism, and “/alive/status” that reflects the real-time status of the lock.

Over on the web side, Gomba made a new Home Assistant integration that operates on the same topics as a controller. From a webpage, users can then toggle the lock or provide a new code for the lock to check against.

Want to bring your own door into the IoT era? More information about this IoT lock can be found here on Hackster.io.

Boards:MKR WiFi 1010
Categories:Arduino