help please: networking software question

[Giles Bowkett]

Hi Friamers -- I have something I need help with.

I want to build a version of the 80s toy "Simon" in the form of a 20'
ring of four skulls.

Simon was a small handheld toy which had four buttons. Lights beneath
the buttons would flash in a particular sequence, the player would
press the buttons to copy that sequence, and if the player keyed in
the sequence correctly, the player won the round, and Simon would
start again with a faster, more complex sequence.

In this implementation, each skull's eyes light up, and the skulls use
Gumstix boxes (gumstix.org) with WiFi to coordinate the sequences of
their flashes. The user runs from skull to skull carrying a wand,
which contains either a fifth Gumstix or maybe a simple Bluetooth
device, and the wand, by proximity to a given skull, triggers that
skull to flash. Waving the wand at a given skull is therefore
equivalent to pressing a particular button. Strictly speaking, waving
the wand is not necessary, you just have to get it close to the skull,
but the wand will be decorated and waving it will be encouraged.

I should point out that these would in fact be animal skulls from
Jackalope on Cerrillos, not human skulls.

The goal here is basically an interactive art installation which is at
once terrifying, silly, grotesque, and fun.

The problem is, although software to trigger flashing lights in
aribtrary sequences is obviously pretty easy to write, and Gumstix
makes the hardware part easy too, I haven't figured out how the "magic
wand" part will work. I really know absolutely nothing about how to
solve this kind of problem; I don't even know whether WiFi or
Bluetooth would make more sense for this.

The ideal solution would be something incredibly simple, where a skull
would only become alerted to the wand's existence if the wand was in a
particular range of X feet, with X ideally being a small number like
5, and further, where the wand's signal could only be picked up by any
one skull at a time. One suggestion I've gotten is to use a TV remote
inside the wand, and add remote sensors to each skull, but I think
more elegant solutions are possible. I just don't know what they might
be.

--
Giles Bowkett
http://www.gilesgoatboy.org
http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com
http://gilesgoatboy.blogspot.com

[James Steiner]

Wow... 5 gumstix? That sounds like massive tech overkill! Not to
mention very expensive!

MAKE: has a you-solder-it simon-game kit that (with room to spare)
fits on a CD-shaped circuit board. The lights are LED's, the switches
are microswitches. The trick then becomes connecting the remote
sensing and output devices (the skulls) to the input and output of the
game core.

So, the wand: A magic wand with a simple IR emitter in the end. The
wand is hollow. It contains a steel ball bearing or cylinder. Waving
the wand (flicking the wand) causes the ball / cylinder to slide from
the middle to the end of the wand. The ball strikes a microswitch in
the end of the wand (or simply creates a circuit between two contacts
inside the wand) -- this triggers an IR emitter to send a burst--and
could also trigger any special effects built into the wand itself
(light, sounds, electric shocks...)  The wand is therfore directional,
*requires* flicking, and has as much range as you need it to have.

The skulls don't need to be very smart, they just need a simple
circuit that detects the IR burst from the wand (doesn't even need to
be coded, though it cold be), and outputs a coded IR burst that the
game core receives. THen it  needs to be able to detect an RF
tansmission from the game core to  light up the lights. The IR
detector can be very discreetly hidden in the eye-sockets.

Both the MAKE: Store and SparkFun offer an assortment of
microcontrollers, IR, and RF parts, and you-name-it.

 This seems like something that the folks who's projects I read about
in the MAKE: Blog feed could spec out easily. I'm just guessing. Also,
the fine folks at SparkFun might be able to offer suggestions on how
to do this simply and efficiently.

MAKE: Blog
http://www.makezine.com/blog/

MAKE: Store, game kit ($40)
http://store.makezine.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGAMEKIT

SparkFun Electronics
http://www.sparkfun.com

SparkFun RF Link - 2400bps - 315MHz
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=7813


It sounds like it will be a really cool project when it's done!

~~James
http://www.turtlezero.com
(JA-86)

On 12/6/06, Giles Bowkett <gilesb at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Friamers -- I have something I need help with.
>
> I want to build a version of the 80s toy "Simon" in the form of a 20'
> ring of four skulls.
>
> Simon was a small handheld toy which had four buttons. Lights beneath
> the buttons would flash in a particular sequence, the player would
> press the buttons to copy that sequence, and if the player keyed in
> the sequence correctly, the player won the round, and Simon would
> start again with a faster, more complex sequence.
>
> In this implementation, each skull's eyes light up, and the skulls use
> Gumstix boxes (gumstix.org) with WiFi to coordinate the sequences of
> their flashes. The user runs from skull to skull carrying a wand,
> which contains either a fifth Gumstix or maybe a simple Bluetooth
> device, and the wand, by proximity to a given skull, triggers that
> skull to flash. Waving the wand at a given skull is therefore
> equivalent to pressing a particular button. Strictly speaking, waving
> the wand is not necessary, you just have to get it close to the skull,
> but the wand will be decorated and waving it will be encouraged.
>
> I should point out that these would in fact be animal skulls from
> Jackalope on Cerrillos, not human skulls.
>
> The goal here is basically an interactive art installation which is at
> once terrifying, silly, grotesque, and fun.
>
> The problem is, although software to trigger flashing lights in
> aribtrary sequences is obviously pretty easy to write, and Gumstix
> makes the hardware part easy too, I haven't figured out how the "magic
> wand" part will work. I really know absolutely nothing about how to
> solve this kind of problem; I don't even know whether WiFi or
> Bluetooth would make more sense for this.
>
> The ideal solution would be something incredibly simple, where a skull
> would only become alerted to the wand's existence if the wand was in a
> particular range of X feet, with X ideally being a small number like
> 5, and further, where the wand's signal could only be picked up by any
> one skull at a time. One suggestion I've gotten is to use a TV remote
> inside the wand, and add remote sensors to each skull, but I think
> more elegant solutions are possible. I just don't know what they might
> be.
>
> --
> Giles Bowkett
> http://www.gilesgoatboy.org
> http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com
> http://gilesgoatboy.blogspot.com
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>

--

[Nick Frost]

Giles Bowkett wrote:

> The ideal solution would be something incredibly simple, where a skull
> would only become alerted to the wand's existence if the wand was in a
> particular range of X feet, with X ideally being a small number like
> 5, and further, where the wand's signal could only be picked up by any
> one skull at a time. One suggestion I've gotten is to use a TV remote
> inside the wand, and add remote sensors to each skull, but I think
> more elegant solutions are possible. I just don't know what they might
> be.

I would think that proximity triggering could be achieved with an
inductor, (i.e capaciflector);

http://www.solarbotics.net/library/circuits/sensors_prox.html

however, it would be hard to trigger one skull at a time that way.

You might be able to have a wand with 4 buttons and use wireless remotes;

http://www.smarthome.com/4000.html

Velleman sells some kits that do that sort of thing and there are
various domestic distributors;

http://www.velleman.be/es/en/product/list/?id=344678

For the theory part of proximity sensors (capacitive inductors);

http://weewave.mer.utexas.edu/MED_files/Former_Students/thesis_dssrtns/Gupta_V_abstrct_TOC.html

Off-the-shelf;

http://www.ab.com/sensors/products/proximity_sensors/

solutions that would require building some hardware;

http://www.qprox.com/products/qtouch.php

I'll keep looking.

-Nick

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Nicholas S. Frost
nickf at nickorama.com