Sometime ago I was asked to be a time judge at a local toastmaster contest and measure the time for the speeches.

This gave me a great idea for a project with my Arduino which I got laying around. I could create a timer which automatically raises the flags with a servo to indicate the time left for the speaker.

I started by reading the documentation about the servo on the Arduino Website. Next I built one of the examples (Sweep) with my Arduino to get a feel for how the servo works and to get a first successful experience.

After reading more about the other components (LCD Display, Buttons, Speaker) I wanted to use for my project I created the schematics on 123d.circuits.io.

You can see the simulation of my circuit on the website.

Next I am going to buy two additional servos and the speaker which I currently don’t have to build and test my prototype in the real world.

In the last step I will create a case for the device to make it less looking like a bomb and will try to use it at the next Toastmaster meeting.