Guitar Case Humidity Alerts

Final Project - Guitar Case Humidity Alerts

For this project, I decided to make something that I can use in everyday life. I took my Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and my Arduino Nano with a Humidity sensor to create a system that sends me a text message when my guitar case has an unsafe humidity. This is when it's outside the range of 40-50 percent humidity.
All code for this project can be found at this GitHub repository.

Circuit Diagram

 

How to Play

• The program is started by turning on the Raspberry Pi which is connected to the Arduino via a USB Serial cable. Then running the "Raspberry.py" python file (with sudo) on the Pi.
• The program polls the Arduino every few seconds, and when the humidity goes out of safe ranges, it sends an email to AT&T's Email-to-Text service which sends my phone a text message.
• It only sends a text once while outside of the range to avoid spamming texts.
• Once Humidity returns to safe levels it then sends another text alerting the user.

Project Audio

For this short project, I made a little audio thing that responds to both capacitive touch and nearby electric fields to shift the pitch output of a speaker.

Code: https://github.com/daxtron2/Arduino-Audio-Project/blob/master/Audio2.ino

Circuit Diagram

To be made

How to Play

• There is a potentiometer next to the speaker to control its volume
• There is a switch to toggle between the capacitive touch and nearby sensing.
• The curled up wire is the capacitive touch sensor
• The straight wire is the nearby sensor.

Project Runway - Glove Game

For this project I decided to make a simple 3D shooting game using my Nano and a Flora Magnetometer/Accelerometer.
All code for this project can be found at this GitHub repository.

Circuit Diagram

 

How to Play

• The game starts by turning on the Arduino.
• Using information from the magnetometer, the glove knows roughly where you're pointing it.
• It will then generate a random target in space.
• The distance from this target is relayed back to the player via the pitch of the buzzer. As it gets higher pitched, it gets closer.
• When the player is close enough to shoot the target, the buzzer changes to a very distinct sound.
• At this point, the player can then touch their middle finger to their palm to shoot the target. If they're successful a longer low pitched "shooting" noise plays indicating that they've gained a point.
• When the player gets 5 points they win the game, and a short jingle is played to let the player know.
• The game can the be restarted by pressing the reset switch on the Arduino.

Video Playthrough

Below is a short play through of me playing a round of the game.

Experience Taxonomy for Project Runway

The Experience

The current plan I have for Project Runway is to create a game integrated into a glove. The way I have it envisioned in my head currently is that, while wearing the glove, you start the game by making a gun shape with your hand. Then, using data from a gyroscope attached to the glove, you move your rotate your hand without moving it to try and find targets in the world. As you get closer to pointing to these targets a buzzer or speaker will change in pitch/volume/pattern to indicate how close you are. When you think you're close enough, you'll press a button on the glove to "shoot" at the target. If you're close enough you'll get a point and the speaker/buzzer will give you feedback on if you hit it or not.

How I want the player to feel

When the player is first approaching the project, I want to make the glove seem as normal as possible. The player should be inquisitive as to what purpose the glove serves, why it has wires coming out of it, and what all the electronics do. Once they're told that it's a game, this should bring joy to the user, because who doesn't like to play games? During the experience, the user should feel like they're in control of the game, even though they have very little information about how to get to their objective. They should also feel like they're being challenged, as finding where the target is should be difficult but not impossible. Their focus will be entirely on trying to find the target, using the sounds coming from the glove. After they finish using the glove, they will hopefully feel a sense of satisfaction, that they were able to overcome the challenge presented before them. They might want to try again, maybe they can do it faster this time? Or maybe they weren't able to hit any of the targets. That might make them angry or they might feel compelled to retake the challenge and try even harder.

Aspects of Meaning

• The player should feel a sense of accomplishment when finishing this difficult game, at least a 7/10. If it's any lower they should want to keep playing to try and get better.
• The player should feel a moderate sense of freedom by moving their rotating their hand in 3D space to try and find their target, bringing the game into the real world. 5/10
• The player should feel that the information they're getting from the glove as to how close they are to the target is truthful and accurate, as without correct information the challenge of the game is no longer fun and simply tedious. 10/10

LED mounted on paper

With our upcoming project being a wearable project, having the ability to sew circuits into clothing would be the optimal way to prototype. Currently, I've not got any spare fabric that's think enough for my sewing needles so I decided to test ideas using paper. The way i found works the best to attach an LED to this "fabric" is to poke both leads through, bend at 90 degree away from each other, wrap steamed wire around the leads, and solder for a good connection. The leads can then be trimmed to size at this point. The LED can then be used in any way that it normally could be used in a circuit.

A small Arduino Nano based Reaction Game

Arduino LED Reaction Game

This is a small game I made using an Arduino Nano for the class Physical Computing (IGME 470)
All code for this project can be found at this GitHub repository.

Circuit Diagram

My setup

How to Play

• The point of the game is to press the button corresponding to the light that is currently lit.
• On my setup, the bottom button corresponds to the green LED, while the top button corresponds to the red LED.
• The two LEDs will light up for a random amount of time, independent from one another.
• Pressing the correct button while the LED is lit up will add 1 point to an internal counter.
• Pressing a button while the corresponding LED is not lit up, will subtract 1 point.
• There is a buzzer attached that will make sounds depending on success/failure.
• By default, the win condition is to get 20 points.
• Upon reaching the 20th point, a small jingle will play, signifying you won the game and then restarting.
• If desired, a custom win condition can be set by holding both buttons down while the Arduino is powering on.
• Both LEDs will turn on, telling you that you're now in win condition selection mode.
• Pressing the button that corresponds to the green LED will increment the score by 1, starting at 1.
• When the desired win condition is reached, pressing the button corresponding to the red LED will start the game.
• In addition, information such as the current score, winning score, and winning score selection is printed to the Serial monitor for ease of use. 

Video Playthrough

Below is a short playthrough of two rounds of the standard 20 point mode. I then show off the win condition selector mode by choosing a goal of 4 points.

Bandersnatch: An interactive film

Hey everyone! My name is TJ Wolschon, I go by TJ most often and standard masculine pronouns are fine.

Bandersnatch is an interactive film on Netflix that came out only a few weeks ago. It is available to anyone who has a netflix subscription and runs on a multitude of devices. It was written by Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade, although I'm sure many others worked on it as well. It is a very interesting experience, one that is hard to explain without spoiling it. 

Basically you control the decisions of the main character Stefan Butler, a young programmer in the 1980s. There's 150 minutes of unique footage but it can be as short as 40 minutes depending on the decisions you make. The engineers over at Netflix had to create an all new system called Branch Manager in order to accommodate the interactivity of Bandersnatch. All in all, it's a really great experience.