Here's my employee entry! Thank you Jen for the awesome pictures!
I didn't bring in the caboose that I made for my two kids to ride in, but may I present the "Christmas Quadrover Train". As the name suggests, it is a Quadrover that I transformed into a train to take my kids around in when we go looking at Christmas lights this year. Many of the places we go are neighborhoods where you have to walk through, and instead of having to put the kids on my shoulders 5 mins into the walk, I thought an RC Train that can pull them would be just what the doctor ordered. I'll post some video of it in full effect after we have our first outing this weekend with it, and we'll see how everyone reacts to it!
Oh wow, I am gone for a few days, and come back to a page full of new submissions. :thumb:
I don't think my TupperWare will be walking away with any prizes, this time!...:cool:
I'm sure glad I don't have to be a judge in this contest.
The following is being submitted for the Parallax Hack the Halls contest. Read on to learn how Martha got hacked by a Propeller.
THE PROJECT:
This project transforms the Martha Stewart Living 22 inch Decorative Tree Picks sold at Home Depot. Each of the 3 pre-wired twigs contain 8 tiny LEDs and the set is designed to be powered by the included 3V/0.5A power adapter. Out of the box all 24 LEDs are continuously lit when powered. One set of 3 twigs containing red LEDs and one set of 3 twigs containing white LEDs were used to create a mesmerizing winter forest scene.
THE MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAM:
The Spin program, running on a Parallax Quickstart board, generates a constantly changing random pattern of events on 6 output pins. These output pins drive 6 2n3904 transistor switches to supply power for each of the 6 twigs. These 6 events use 6 of the 8 Propeller cogs; then with 2 remaining cogs needing a workout, no forest scene is complete without an animated reindeer nibbling on a red berry that hangs from one of the trees. So a Parallax servo was added to exercise the remaining 2 cogs. Although the control program slams full power-on to the trees to create a stimulating affect, it also fades the power during the off cycle to produce a peaceful change. The servo (with reindeer attached) is also programmed to move in random increments to increase interest.
A good working knowledge of the Spin language for the Propeller microcomputer is helpful for this project; however this programmer has little more than novice ability. But as it is in this case, those with imagination and determination can thank Parallax for doing an excellent job hosting OBEX and the Parallax Forums, and also for offering free phone support to help replace expert programming ability. Except for minor changes and tweaking some parameters in freely available programs, the entire Spin program for this project was a cut and paste process from the following:
Learn Parallax by Andy Lindsay used for timing and I/O pins routines
Tutorial page with download link: http://learn.parallax.com/node/110
Parallax phone support - a brief phone/Email exchange with Nick to tie it all together
THE HARDWARE AND CONSTRUCTION:
The Power wirings for all 6 twigs were separated, striped and tined for insertion into a breadboard. Because a single Quickstart output pin can only supply 40 of the 60 mA required to power each twig, it was necessary to build 6 2n3904 switching circuits. The servo is connected and wired according to Parallax standard servo instructions.
Power for the Quickstart board and the display came from the USB cable connection to a PC, a 9V battery, or an auxiliary 9VDC wall wart attached to pins 39 & 40. The 3.3VDC for the LEDs power was available at pin 38 on the Quickstart board.
THE MATERIALS:
1 pkg Martha Stewart Living 22 inch Decorative Tree Picks White $15.75
1 pkg Martha Stewart Living 22 inch Decorative Tree Picks Red $15.75
1 Parallax Quickstart board $25.00
1 Parallax standard servo $12.99
1 2x4x24 scrap from construction site n/c
1 12x30x3/4 OSB or Plywood scrap from construction site n/c
1 2 round plastic disc cut from peanut butter jar lid n/c
attached to servo horn w/ 4-40 screws
2 #8 x 2in wood screws $ 0.16
4 4-40 x ¾ machine screws with nuts $ 0.64
1 pkg synthetic snow from Target $ 2.00
1 Reindeer Christmas tree ornament - glued to plastic disk $ 2.75
4 or 5 small river rocks n/c
If the world does end on 12/21, then at least Parallax's HTH contest helped urge one last spike of learned effort and technological productivity out of the Human race!
His name is Hamster-Bot. He was originally designed to be a christmas decoration for one of my FRC team's sponsors, but the project was canned so I took him home and finished the job. While he may have a misleading name, the goal is simple, to spread Christmas joy to everyone around him. He uses two Boards of Education with the 27982 transceivers, one for operating as a remote controller (which was to be placed outside the store), the other is on the boe bot for actually driving. His task when the command is sent is very simple, but alas his cuteness makes up for the simplicity of it.
Please submit your holiday hack by Thursday, December 20th. Winners will be announced on Friday, December 21st, 2012.
Foir those of us who have procrastinated until the end been working on our hack until the end, What time Thursday is the cut off? 10AM Parallax time (PST) (like many sales)?
11:59:59PM Wednesday night?
To submit your project for this contest, please provide a brief writeup with links to any other applicable information (photos, schematics, videos, web sites, another thread) in this Forum thread.
This is my submission for the Hack the Halls Contest:
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" Project
Preface- I am an EET student at HVCC and I took a Microcontroller class this semester. We have gone through all of the examples and projects in the What's a Microcontoller? book so I am listing that as my reference for this project. This is my first project outside of class and is definitely NOT going to be my last because we all know how much microcontrollers rule! \m/ (_) \m/ *rock on* Unfortunately I had to give back the 2x16 serial LCD at the end of this semester last week so it got removed from the project. This project has taken me a total of about 10 days to construct, program and troubleshoot. It also doesnt help that finals are this week...
Project I have constructed a Xmas scene at the North Pole with LEDs and photoresistors put into various objects. A Joystick is used to control two servos and a pushbutton for the laser. When the photoresistor is hit by the laser then the targets LEDs will light up and it will make some noises throughout. I am using the Basic Stamp on the BOE for this project. The intro song used for the North Pole is "White Christmas" and the song used for the villain is "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
Here is the video: I'm sorry about the quality of video/audio of my cellphone...
:
Here are some pix:
Materials I picked up a few cheap Christmas decorations at the dollar store and walmart as well as cotton balls, glitter (dont ask) and 9V batteries for about $10. I threw everything on top of a pizza box and had used other cardboard boxes for things. I had to pick up two servos, LEDs, photoresistors, a speaker, joystick, various resistors and wire from radioshack. I had used my $50 gift card Ive been holding on to for a year. The laser was bought off of amazon for like $5. The BOE was picked up at the beginning of the semester.
I would like to submit my propeller powered Christmas lights project that has been ongoing for the past few years. The lights are controlled by a 16 channel Propeller powered controller that I call the "Rudolph 16". These controllers receive DMX-512 from a Propeller powered PC interface I call the "DMX Director". The DMX Director connects to the PC via USB. In order to ensure the Prop could swallow the needed data stream quickly without error, I utilized a FTDI245 USB to parallel serial interface. I modified the FDS object to work with the FTDI245 and uploaded to the OBEX. It took the better part of a year to design the boards and write the software in my spare time. Starting off, I knew nothing of Propeller and only had worked with basic stamps. The "shows" are generated using a shareware PC program called "Vixen". I wrote a plugin for Vixen to talk to my "DMX Director".
Getting the prop to dim the lights
Testing the first prototype
One of the completed and populated boards.
The DMX Director
Full Show
This show has 96 DMX-512 channels available, with the "Mega Tree" being 64 of those channels. My wife created all of the shows that we display during the Christmas season.
I am hereby withdrawing my earlier Shiftbrite entry in favor of Shiftbrites Revisited. Here is a video of Maggie's crate festooned. http://youtu.be/dv80ntxxLPo
I have appended the code. I will document it on the Projects forum tomorrow.
I threw together some simple animation of light strings for the 2011 Trucker Christmas Parade in Eureka, California. I helped out the Timber Heritage Association. It was started late, so the second SSR box was not made. With the animation and lights everyone put on, we earned second place in the light truck category that year. This year my stamp was doing a school project. Each out put uses a 3 amp SSR to control the AC strings, fused at 2 amps.
Three sets of animation, with three channels each. The wheels used six strings of lights, two each channel. I arranged them as spokes. Trouble was the other side rotated backwards and I was too tired at that point to think clearly to fix it. The front of the speeder had two windows and a grill. That became two eyes and a mouth. The eyes blink on and off and wink using three channels. The last three channels were unused, but were made to simulate a chase sign for the group's initials.
The SSR box is a three gang electrical outlet box, with the plug cord cut off an old UPS. The SSRs and fuses all fit within the box tightly.
Had to hack into a Scribbler for this one! It's a higher-tech version of the classic train under the Christmas tree. Robot follows a tape line on the carpet. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but no, there ain't much contrast between the white tape line and my tan berber carpet:
I love Old Blue, but she had a few weaknesses, and line following was one of them. The contrast threshholds were hardwired in (no software adjustment), and finding suitable lines and backgrounds was always a pain. I added a series potentiometer to the two IR LEDs (also in series) to reduce the IR illumination to adjust the high/low transistion. I used a 10K pot on hand, but a 500-ohm unit would be superior, since ~200 ohms was all that was necessary. Also, I discovered that the sensor height needed to be raised for optimum view of the illuminated line, so I made it a tail-dragger by removing the tail wheel and adding a simple skid.
The red & green LEDs on Old Blue made it a natural for this Christmas contest.
My joyfully compact code for line-following:
HIGH 3' IR LEDs on, added a ~200 ohm series resistor
main:IF IN4=0 THEN PULSOUT 13,2500:HIGH 8:ELSE PULSOUT 13,1800:LOW 8
IF IN5=0 THEN PULSOUT 12,2500:HIGH 10:ELSE PULSOUT 12,1800:LOW 10
GOTO main
Contest is closed to any further entries.
The judges will convene and we shall announce the winners later today.
Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful holiday projects!
The Carolinator is an Autonomous Christmas Caroling Robot that was inspired by Ercos Jingle-Bot and Jessicas Christmas Caroling Device.
Photos:
This Robot is a BOE-Bot clone using a Parallax SumoBot controller board and a few spare parts. The program is a blend of Ping)))Dar - Scan For and Go To Closest Object and three of the songs from the Christmas Caroling Device (I flat out stole Jessicas Christmas Carols).
' -----[ Title ]--------------------------------------------------------------' The "Carolinator" - GoToClosestCarolingObject.bs2
' Based on Smart Sensors and Applications - GoToClosestObject.bs2
' Sweep Ping))) Ultrasonic Rangefinder across 180-degrees and find the closest
' object. Then calculate and execute the turn required to face the object.
' Travel forward until the object is less than or equal to 20 cm from the front
' of the rangefinder.
' And Plays a variety of Christmas songs from CarolingDeviceWithLights.bs2
' This is for the Phil-Bot: a Boe-Bot clone using a SumoBot board: 12-14-2012
' IMPORTANT: This program has several constants that have to be tuned before
' it will work right. Follow the instructions in Smart Sensors
' and Applications, Chapter 8, Activity #4 and #5 before you run
' this program!
' {$STAMP BS2} ' Target device = BASIC Stamp 2
' {$PBASIC 2.5} ' Language = PBASIC 2.5
' -----[ EEPROM Data ]--------------------------------------------------------
' Store information needed to play "Deck the Halls"
' Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Notes_DTH DATA "C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "G", "A", "F",
' Fa la la la la la la la la
"G", "A", "b", "G", "A", "G", "F", "E", "F",
' Tis the season to be jolly
"C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "G", "A", "F",
' Fa la la la la la la la la
"G", "A", "b", "G", "A", "G", "F", "E", "F",
' Don we now out gay apparel
"G", "A", "b", "G", "A", "b", "C", "G",
' Fa la la la la la la la la
"A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "E", "D", "C",
' Toll the ancient yuletide carol
"C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "G", "A", "F",
' Fa la la la la la la la la
"D", "D", "D", "D", "C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "Q"
Octaves_DTH DATA 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6,
6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7,
7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6
Durations_DTH DATA 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4,
8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4, 2,
4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4,
8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4, 2,
4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4,
8, 8, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 2,
4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4,
8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4, 2
Dots_DTH DATA 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0,
1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0,
1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0
' Store information needed to play "Jingle Bells"
' Dashing through the snow
Notes_JB DATA "D", "B", "A", "G", "D", "R",
' In a one horse open sleigh
"D", "D", "D", "B", "A", "G", "E", "R",
' O'er the fields we go
"E", "C", "B", "A", "g", "R",
' Laughing all the way
"D", "D", "C", "A", "B",
' Bells on bobtail ring
"D", "B", "A", "G", "D", "R",
' Making spirits bright
"D", "B", "A", "G", "E", "R",
' What fun it is to ride and sing
"E", "E", "C", "B", "A", "D", "D", "D",
' A sleighing song tonight
"D", "E", "D", "C", "A", "G", "R",
' Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
"B", "B", "B", "B", "B", "B",
' Jingle all the way
"B", "D", "G", "A", "B", "R",
' Oh what fun it is to ride
"C", "C", "C", "C", "C", "B", "B",
' In a one horse open sleigh
"B", "B", "B", "A", "A", "B", "B", "D",
' Jingle bells, jingle bells
"B", "B", "B", "B", "B", "B",
' Jingle all the way
"B", "D", "G", "A", "B", "R",
' Oh what fun it is to ride
"C", "C", "C", "C", "C", "B", "B",
' In a one horse open sleigh
"B", "B", "D", "D", "C", "A", "G", "Q"
Octaves_JB DATA 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6,
7, 7, 7, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7,
7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6,
7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6,
7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6,
6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6
Durations_JB DATA 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4,
8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4,
4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4,
2, 4, 4, 4, 2,
4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4,
4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4,
4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4,
4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4,
4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 2,
4, 4, 4, 8, 3, 4,
4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4,
8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2,
4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 2,
4, 4, 4, 8, 3, 4,
4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4,
8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1
' Store information needed to play "We Wish you a Merry Christmas"
' We wish you a Merry Christmas
Notes_MC DATA "e", "a", "a", "b", "a", "G", "F", "F",
' We wish you a Mery Christmas
"F", "b", "b", "C", "b", "a", "G", "e",
' We wish you a Merry Christmas
"e", "C", "C", "d", "C", "b", "a", "F",
' And a Happy New Year
"e", "e", "F", "b", "G", "a",
' Good tidings we bring to you and your kin
"e", "a", "a", "a", "G", "G", "a", "G", "F", "e",
' Good tidings for Christmas
"b", "C", "b", "a", "e", "e",
' And a Happy New Year
"e", "e", "F", "b", "G", "a", "Q"
Octaves_MC DATA 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 6,
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Durations_MC DATA 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4,
4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4,
4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4,
8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 2,
4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2,
4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4,
8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 2
' -----[ I/O Definitions ]----------------------------------------------------
' Ping))) Ultrasonc Rangefinder and Mounting Bracket
PingServo PIN 14 ' Servo that directs Ping))) snsr
Ping PIN 15 ' Ping))) sensor signal pin
' Boe-Bot servo pins (Left and right are from driver's seat perspective.)
BotServoLeft PIN 13 ' Left drive servo
BotServoRight PIN 12 ' Right drive servo
Speaker PIN 5 ' piezo Speaker and LED
' -----[ Constants ]----------------------------------------------------------
' Ping))) mounting bracket constants
LimitLeft CON 330 ' Bracket 90-degrees Left - 1250
LimitRight CON 1195 ' Bracket 90-degrees Right - 250
Center CON 770 ' Center/0-degree pulse duration - 750
Increment CON 15 ' Increment for pulse sweeping
MinSweep CON 40 ' Pulses -> 90-degree right
' Boe-Bot continuous rotation servo control constants
FwdLeftFast CON 850 ' Fast settings - straight ahead - 850
FwdRightFast CON 645 ' Stock - 660
BackUpLeft CON 723 ' Backs Up Slow
BackUpRight CON 780 ' Backs Up Slow
RotateRight CON 762 ' Boe-Bot rotate right pulse - 765
RotateLeft CON 739 ' Boe-Bot rotate left pulse - 735
BtwnPulses CON 20 ' ms between servo pulses
' Ping))) Ultrasonic Rangefinder constants
CmConstant CON 2260 ' Echo time -> cm with ** - 2260
SinCosTo256 CON 517 ' For */ -127..127 -> -256..256 - 517
Ms20 CON 330 ' 20 ms worth of cm
' MSB sign (twos complement)
Negative CON 1 ' Negative sign (bit-15)
Positive CON 0 ' Positive sign (bit-15)
' Ping and turning axis geometry
PingDirToAngle CON 8700 ' Servo pulse to angle ** con - 8454
PingAxleOffset CON 7 ' 7 cm between ping))) and axis - 7
StopDistance CON 20 ' The adjusted distance at STOP - 20
' -----[ Variables ]----------------------------------------------------------
time VAR Word ' Ping))) echo time
pingDir VAR Word ' Pulse duration -> direction
x VAR Word ' x coordinate
y VAR Word ' y coordinate
distance VAR Time ' Object centimeter distance
markDir VAR y ' Pulse points to closest object
rightMark VAR x ' Pulse to object's right side
leftMark VAR pingDir ' Pulse to object's left side
pulses VAR x ' +/- brads to turn toward object
PrevDist VAR Byte ' Previous distance measurement
angle VAR Byte ' Servo angle from right in brads
counter VAR angle ' Loop counter
minDist VAR angle ' Minimum distance measurement
sweepInc VAR Nib ' Increment for servo sweep
sweepDir VAR Bit ' Increment/decrement pingDir
xSign VAR Bit ' Stores sign of x variable
ySign VAR xSign ' Stores sign of x variable
pSign VAR Bit ' Sign of pulses variable
edgesFound VAR Bit ' Navigation flag
' -----[ Christmas songs Variables ]------------------------------------------
offset VAR Nib ' Variable space for LOOKUP table
index VAR Byte ' Index for pointing at data
carolCounter VAR Byte ' Index for Christmas Carol
noteDot VAR Bit ' Stores if a note is dotted or not
noteOctave VAR Nib ' Stores the octave of each note
noteLetter VAR Byte ' Stores the letter of each note
noteFreq VAR Word ' Stores the frequency of each note
noteDuration VAR Word ' Stores the duration of each note
' -----[ Initialization ]-----------------------------------------------------
FOR counter = 1 TO 20 ' Centers Ping)))
PULSOUT PingServo, Center
PAUSE 20
NEXT
PAUSE 2000 ' Delay program start by 3 seconds
' -----[ Main Routine ]-------------------------------------------------------
DO WHILE(1)
IF (carolCounter >= 3) THEN ' Set carolCounter to Zero
carolCounter = 0
ENDIF
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' First distance measurement
' If notheing is in range, Go forward and Hunt!
DO UNTIL distance <= 250 ' Repeat until distance <= 250 cm
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Get new distance
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, FwdLeftFast ' Boe-Bot forward
PULSOUT BotServoRight, FwdRightFast
PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20) ' 20 ms pause between pulses
LOOP
DO UNTIL distance <= StopDistance ' Repeat until distance <= 20 cm
edgesFound = 0 ' Clear edges found flag
DO UNTIL edgesFound = 1 ' Repeat until edges found = 1
GOSUB Face_Closest_Object ' Find & face closest object
LOOP
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Get current distance
DO UNTIL distance <= StopDistance ' Drive toward object
prevDist = distance MAX 255 ' Current distance -> previous
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Get new distance
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, FwdLeftFast ' Boe-Bot forward
PULSOUT BotServoRight, FwdRightFast
PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20) ' 20 ms pause between pulses
IF distance >= prevDist + 7 THEN EXIT ' Exit if distance increasing was 5
LOOP
LOOP ' Main routine's outermost loop
IF (carolCounter = 0) THEN
GOSUB Deck_The_Halls ' Play "Deck the Halls"
ELSEIF (carolCounter = 1) THEN
GOSUB Jingle_Bells ' Play "Jingle Bells"
ELSEIF (carolCounter = 2) THEN
GOSUB Merry_Christmas ' Play "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
ELSE
PAUSE 20 ' Pause for 20 ms
ENDIF
carolCounter = carolCounter + 1
PAUSE 1000
FOR counter = 0 TO 30 ' Back up about 10 cm
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, BackUpLeft
PULSOUT BotServoRight, BackUpRight
PULSOUT PingServo, Center ' Keeps Ping))) Facing Forward
PAUSE 20
NEXT
FOR counter = 1 TO 125 ' Turn around 180 Degrees
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateRight
PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateRight
PULSOUT PingServo, Center ' Keeps Ping))) Facing Forward
PAUSE 20
NEXT
LOOP
END
' -----[ Subroutines - BoeBot_Turn_Brads ]-----------------------------------
' Boe-Bot turns a certain number of binary radians to face an object.
BoeBot_Turn_Brads:
IF pSign = Negative THEN ' Stock Positive
FOR counter = 0 TO ABS(pulses)
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateRight
PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateRight
PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20)
NEXT
ELSE
FOR counter = 0 TO ABS(pulses)
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateLeft
PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateLeft
PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20)
NEXT
ENDIF
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutines - Face_Closest_Object ]----------------------------------
' Scan for closest object using a Ping))) rangefinder mounted on a standard
' servo. Locate the middle fo the object, and turn Boe-Bot to face it.
Face_Closest_Object:
' Initialize sweep increment.
sweepInc = Increment
' Start Servo rotated to the far right.
pingDir = LimitRight
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
' Make minDist large and sweepDir positive (0). Single_Sweep sweeps
' left -> right while measuring object distances and stores the direction
' of the closest object in markDir.
minDist = 65535
sweepDir = Positive
GOSUB Single_Sweep
' Point the servo in the direction of the closest distance measurement.
pingDir = markDir
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
' Scan to find object's right side.
GOSUB Find_Right_Side
IF edgesFound = 0 THEN RETURN
' Point the servo in the direction of the closest distance measurement.
pingDir = markDir
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
' Scan to find object's right side.
GOSUB Find_Left_Side
IF edgesFound = 0 THEN RETURN
' Average the angles to the object's left and right sides. That's the
' middle of the object. Point rangefinder in that direction.
pingDir = leftMark + rightMark / 2
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
' At this point, the Ping))) should be pointing directly at the closest
' object.
' Calculate the angle to the object's angle in brads, and turn the
' Boe-Bot to face that angle.
GOSUB Turn_Angle_Adjust
GOSUB BoeBot_Turn_Brads
' Face Ping))) rangefinder straight ahead.
pingDir = Center
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutines - Find_Left_Side ]---------------------------------------
' Scan left until the measured distance is 10 cm beyond the closest distance,
' which is assumed to mean the object's side has been found.
' If the object's side has been found within the 180-degree field of vision,
' set edgesFound = 1 and store the pulse duration (pingDir) at which the
' object was found in the leftMark variable.
' If the side was not found by the 180-degree point in the scan, rotate the
' Boe-Bot until the edge is found, and then set edgesFound to 0 signifying
' that the scan will have to be repeated because the Boe-Bot rotated
' to find the side, which would otherwise cause the markDir variable to
' store an incorrect value.
Find_Left_Side:
sweepDir = Positive
distance = minDist
sweepInc = 1
DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10
GOSUB Sweep_Increment
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm
IF pingDir <= LimitLeft - 10 THEN ' Stock >=
pingDir = LimitLeft - 50
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateLeft
PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateLeft
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm
PAUSE 20
LOOP
edgesFound = 0
RETURN
ENDIF
LOOP
leftMark = pingDir
edgesFound = 1
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutines - Find_Right_Side ]--------------------------------------
' Mirror image of Find_Left_Side.
Find_Right_Side:
sweepDir = Negative
distance = minDist
sweepInc = 1
DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10
GOSUB Sweep_Increment
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm
IF pingDir >= LimitRight + 10 THEN ' Stock <=
pingDir = LimitRight + 50
GOSUB Point_At_PingDir
DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10
PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateRight
PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateRight
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm
PAUSE 20
LOOP
edgesFound = 0
RETURN
ENDIF
LOOP
rightMark = pingDir
edgesFound = 1
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutine - Get_Ping_Cm ]-------------------------------------------
' Gets Ping))) rangefinder measurement and converts time to centimeters.
' Distance may be declared as time to save variable space.
Get_Ping_Cm:
PULSOUT Ping, 5
PULSIN Ping, 1, time
distance = time ** CmConstant
distance = distance + 3 ' Add 3 for Phil's PING))) Bracket
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutines - Point_At_PingDir ]-------------------------------------
' Points servo mounted Ping))) rangefinder at an angle determined by the
' value of the pingDir variable.
Point_At_PingDir:
FOR counter = 0 TO MinSweep
PULSOUT PingServo, pingDir
PAUSE BtwnPulses
NEXT
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutine - Polar_To_Cartesian ]------------------------------------
' Calculates x and y (Cartesian coordinates) given distance and angle
' (polar coordinates).
Polar_To_Cartesian:
' Calculate left/right component.
x = COS angle ' Polar to Cartesian
xSign = x.BIT15 ' Store sign bit
x = ABS(x) */ SinCOsTo256 ' Polar to Cartesian continued
x = distance */ x
IF xSign = negative THEN x = -x ' Correct sign with sign bit
' Calculate straight ahead component.
y = SIN angle ' Polar to Cartesian
ySign = y.BIT15 ' Store sign bit
y = ABS(y) */ SinCOsTo256 ' Polar to Cartesian continued
y = distance */ y
IF ySign = negative THEN y = -y ' Correct sign with sign bit
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutines - Single_Sweep ]-----------------------------------------
' Do one sweep, and find the closest distance measurement and the
' pulse value that points the servo in that direction.
Single_Sweep:
DO UNTIL pingDir <= LimitLeft ' Stock >=
GOSUB Sweep_Increment
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm
IF distance < minDist THEN
minDist = distance
markDir = pingDir
ENDIF
LOOP
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutine - Sweep_Increment ]---------------------------------------
' Increment/decrement the position of the servo that directs the Ping)))
' rangefinder. When pingDir goes outside either LimitRight or LimitLeft,
' the sweep direction toggles.
Sweep_Increment:
' Change sweepDir for adding/subtracting increment if at rotation limit.
IF pingDir >= LimitRight THEN ' Stock <=
sweepDir = Positive
ELSEIF pingDir <= LimitLeft THEN ' Stock >=
sweepDir = Negative
ENDIF
' Add/subtract increment to/from pingDir.
IF sweepDir = negative THEN
pingDir = pingDir + sweepInc ' Stock -
ELSEIF sweepDir = Positive THEN
pingDir = pingDir - sweepInc ' Stock +
ENDIF
' Send positioning pulse to Ping))) Mounting Bracket servo.
PULSOUT PingServo, pingDir
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutines - Turn_Angle_Adjust ]------------------------------------
' Adjusts required turn angle based on 7 mm offset of Ping))) rangefinder from
' Boe-Bot's turning axis.
Turn_Angle_Adjust:
' Get the object's distance at its center.
GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm
' Position servo & calculate angle from far-right in brads.
angle = pingDir - 250 ** PingDirToAngle
GOSUB Polar_To_Cartesian
' Add distance between Ping))) and center of Boe-Bot axis.
y = y + PingAxleOffset
' Recalculate the turning angle with respect to Boe-Bot's turning axis.
angle = x ATN y
pulses = 64 - angle
pSign = pulses.BIT15
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutine for Christmas songs ]-------------------------------------
' -----[ Subroutine - Deck_The_Halls ]----------------------------------------
' Plays the song "Deck the Halls"
Deck_The_Halls: ' Subroutine Label
index = 0 ' Set index back to 0 for new songs
' Loop until the end of the song, or the center button is pressed
DO UNTIL (noteLetter = "Q") 'OR (IN3 = 0)
READ Notes_DTH + index, noteLetter: GOSUB Get_Frequency
READ Octaves_DTH + index, noteOctave: GOSUB Get_Octave
READ Durations_DTH + index, noteDuration: noteDuration = 1000 / noteDuration
READ Dots_DTH + index, noteDot
IF noteDot = 1 THEN noteDuration = noteDuration * 3 / 2
FREQOUT Speaker, noteDuration, noteFreq ' Play note
index = index + 1 ' Increase data pointer by 1
LOOP
noteLetter = "R" ' Set note letter to "R" so
' the song will replay
RETURN ' Return to Main Program
' -----[ Subroutine - Jingle_Bells ]------------------------------------------
' Plays the song "Jingle Bells"
Jingle_Bells: ' Subroutine label
index = 0 ' Set index back to 0 for new songs
' Loop until the end of the song, or the center button is pressed
DO UNTIL (noteLetter = "Q") 'OR (IN3 = 0)
READ Notes_JB + index, noteLetter: GOSUB Get_Frequency
READ Octaves_JB + index, noteOctave: GOSUB Get_Octave
READ Durations_JB + index, noteDuration: noteDuration = 900 / noteDuration
FREQOUT Speaker, noteDuration, noteFreq ' Play note
index = index + 1 ' Increase data pointer by 1
LOOP
noteLetter = "R" ' Set note letter to "R" so
' the song will replay
RETURN ' Return to Main Program
' -----[ Subroutine - Merry_Christmas ]---------------------------------------
' Plays the song "We Wish you a Merry Christmas"
Merry_Christmas: ' Subroutine label
index = 0 ' Set index back to 0 for new songs
' Loop until the end of the song, or the center button is pressed
DO UNTIL (noteLetter = "Q") 'OR (IN3 = 0)
READ Notes_MC + index, noteLetter: GOSUB Get_Frequency
READ Octaves_MC + index, noteOctave: GOSUB Get_Octave
READ Durations_MC + index, noteDuration: noteDuration = 1000 / noteDuration
FREQOUT Speaker, noteDuration, noteFreq ' Play note
index = index + 1 ' Increase data pointer by 1
LOOP
noteLetter = "R" ' Set note letter to "R" so
' the song will replay
RETURN ' Return to Main Program
' -----[ Subroutine - Get_Frequency ]-----------------------------------------
' Returns the frequency for each corresponding note letter in the 8th octave
Get_Frequency: ' Subroutine label
LOOKDOWN noteLetter, [ "C", "d", "D", "e", "E",
"F", "g", "G", "a", "A",
"b", "B", "R", "Q" ], offset
LOOKUP offset, [ 4186, 4435, 4699, 4978, 5274,
5588, 5920, 6272, 6645, 7040,
7459, 7902, 0, 0 ], noteFreq
RETURN
' -----[ Subroutine - Get_Octave ]--------------------------------------------
' Calculates what octave the note should be played in
Get_Octave: ' Subroutine label
noteOctave = 8 - noteOctave
noteFreq = noteFreq / (DCD noteOctave)
RETURN
EXCELLENT project, Phil! I love your Carolinator and I sure hope the judges see fit to include that in the competition.
@Mike: If I would have had more time, I would have hacked in the Sound Pal from my Mystery bag to play a Christmas carol. But Jen said the contest ended at midnight (seemed a day early, hope that didn't knock Duane and other procrastinators out) so I "cost-reduced" my original concept, which included real toy train boxcars with toy robots riding on top...
Foir those of us who have procrastinated until the end been working on our hack until the end, What time Thursday is the cut off? 10AM Parallax time (PST) (like many sales)?
11:59:59PM Wednesday night?
How many hours do I/we have?
Duane, I hope you didn't miss the midnight cutoff with a 90% completed project... If so, post here anyway!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful entries in our first annual "Hack The Halls" contest! Our panel of judges were quite pleased with the quantity, variety, and creativity of the holiday projects.
And the winners for the 2012 "Hack The Halls" Contest are
First Place ($300 in Parallax credit) - ke4pjw (Post #77) http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1152158&viewfull=1#post1152158
"Propeller Powered Christmas Lights Project and the Griswold FX - Rudolph 16 Custom Board" - ke4pjw provided an excellent video explaining his process and his programming. He also made his own custom control board. The light show looked beautiful. Seriously where can we get a Rudolph 16 board? Judge quote: "Fricking bad ***!"
Third Place ($100 in Parallax credit) - shyerdj (Post #73) http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1152082&viewfull=1#post1152082
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas Game" - shyerdj created a North Pole diorama with LEDs and photoresistors. He then added an interactive component with a remote controlled Grinch with laser cannon. It is a great looking finished piece and it's interactive. Judge quote: "Yea! Lasers and glitter!"
Honorable Mention ($75 in Parallax credit) - halfblinddado (Post #48) http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1149294&viewfull=1#post1149294
Judges were only going to award 3 prizes, but we had to add an Honorable Mention because of this project. A 3-D printer was used to create a nice Wintry sculpture which was then lit from underneath with LEDs. Jessica's 'Christmas Scribbler Caroling Robot' tutorial was then modified for the project.
Bravo, judges. Great choices all around and lots of fun to participate in. Folks really stepped up with the quality of ideas and videos submitted. If there was a "best video" prize, I think jdolecki's tender "Robot's First Christmas" would take it. Merry Christmas to all!
PS: Tommy, resubmit your Gift Guard 9000 next year. It's a timeless, useful concept which should stay plenty fresh in that Tupperware if you burp it!
Comments
I didn't bring in the caboose that I made for my two kids to ride in, but may I present the "Christmas Quadrover Train". As the name suggests, it is a Quadrover that I transformed into a train to take my kids around in when we go looking at Christmas lights this year. Many of the places we go are neighborhoods where you have to walk through, and instead of having to put the kids on my shoulders 5 mins into the walk, I thought an RC Train that can pull them would be just what the doctor ordered. I'll post some video of it in full effect after we have our first outing this weekend with it, and we'll see how everyone reacts to it!
Saw that on FaceBook, nice job!
I don't think my TupperWare will be walking away with any prizes, this time!...:cool:
I'm sure glad I don't have to be a judge in this contest.
-Tommy
THE PROJECT:
This project transforms the Martha Stewart Living 22 inch Decorative Tree Picks sold at Home Depot. Each of the 3 pre-wired twigs contain 8 tiny LEDs and the set is designed to be powered by the included 3V/0.5A power adapter. Out of the box all 24 LEDs are continuously lit when powered. One set of 3 twigs containing red LEDs and one set of 3 twigs containing white LEDs were used to create a mesmerizing winter forest scene.
THE MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAM:
The Spin program, running on a Parallax Quickstart board, generates a constantly changing random pattern of events on 6 output pins. These output pins drive 6 2n3904 transistor switches to supply power for each of the 6 twigs. These 6 events use 6 of the 8 Propeller cogs; then with 2 remaining cogs needing a workout, no forest scene is complete without an animated reindeer nibbling on a red berry that hangs from one of the trees. So a Parallax servo was added to exercise the remaining 2 cogs. Although the control program slams full power-on to the trees to create a stimulating affect, it also fades the power during the off cycle to produce a peaceful change. The servo (with reindeer attached) is also programmed to move in random increments to increase interest.
A good working knowledge of the Spin language for the Propeller microcomputer is helpful for this project; however this programmer has little more than novice ability. But as it is in this case, those with imagination and determination can thank Parallax for doing an excellent job hosting OBEX and the Parallax Forums, and also for offering free phone support to help replace expert programming ability. Except for minor changes and tweaking some parameters in freely available programs, the entire Spin program for this project was a cut and paste process from the following:
Learn Parallax by Andy Lindsay used for timing and I/O pins routines
Tutorial page with download link: http://learn.parallax.com/node/110
OBEX by Kwabena program used to control Servo
http://obex.parallax.com/objects/456/
Parallax Propeller Forums by cavelamb program used to fade LEDs off http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144413-variable-ramping
Parallax phone support - a brief phone/Email exchange with Nick to tie it all together
THE HARDWARE AND CONSTRUCTION:
The Power wirings for all 6 twigs were separated, striped and tined for insertion into a breadboard. Because a single Quickstart output pin can only supply 40 of the 60 mA required to power each twig, it was necessary to build 6 2n3904 switching circuits. The servo is connected and wired according to Parallax standard servo instructions.
Power for the Quickstart board and the display came from the USB cable connection to a PC, a 9V battery, or an auxiliary 9VDC wall wart attached to pins 39 & 40. The 3.3VDC for the LEDs power was available at pin 38 on the Quickstart board.
THE MATERIALS:
1 pkg Martha Stewart Living 22 inch Decorative Tree Picks White $15.75
1 pkg Martha Stewart Living 22 inch Decorative Tree Picks Red $15.75
1 Parallax Quickstart board $25.00
1 Parallax standard servo $12.99
1 2x4x24 scrap from construction site n/c
1 12x30x3/4 OSB or Plywood scrap from construction site n/c
1 2 round plastic disc cut from peanut butter jar lid n/c
attached to servo horn w/ 4-40 screws
2 #8 x 2in wood screws $ 0.16
4 4-40 x ¾ machine screws with nuts $ 0.64
1 pkg synthetic snow from Target $ 2.00
1 Reindeer Christmas tree ornament - glued to plastic disk $ 2.75
4 or 5 small river rocks n/c
PHOTO AND VIDEO ATTACHED:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJQx8NqxJQQ&feature=youtube
Merry Christmas! -Gordon
If the world does end on 12/21, then at least Parallax's HTH contest helped urge one last spike of learned effort and technological productivity out of the Human race!
His name is Hamster-Bot. He was originally designed to be a christmas decoration for one of my FRC team's sponsors, but the project was canned so I took him home and finished the job. While he may have a misleading name, the goal is simple, to spread Christmas joy to everyone around him. He uses two Boards of Education with the 27982 transceivers, one for operating as a remote controller (which was to be placed outside the store), the other is on the boe bot for actually driving. His task when the command is sent is very simple, but alas his cuteness makes up for the simplicity of it.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap7HkxqumCk&feature=youtu.be
The controller (now rebuilt for demo purposes)
The code, which i can't post inline as at home I have a Mac and I wrote the code on a team computer is attached here:
Receiver.bs2Transmitter.bs2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSxGq68Pllk
For more detail on the project see the thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144729-Propeller-Clock-Powered-by-the-Propeller-Microcontroller
Foir those of us who have procrastinated until the end been working on our hack until the end, What time Thursday is the cut off? 10AM Parallax time (PST) (like many sales)?
11:59:59PM Wednesday night?
How many hours do I/we have?
This is my submission for the Hack the Halls Contest:
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" Project
Preface- I am an EET student at HVCC and I took a Microcontroller class this semester. We have gone through all of the examples and projects in the What's a Microcontoller? book so I am listing that as my reference for this project. This is my first project outside of class and is definitely NOT going to be my last because we all know how much microcontrollers rule! \m/ (_) \m/ *rock on* Unfortunately I had to give back the 2x16 serial LCD at the end of this semester last week so it got removed from the project. This project has taken me a total of about 10 days to construct, program and troubleshoot. It also doesnt help that finals are this week...
Project I have constructed a Xmas scene at the North Pole with LEDs and photoresistors put into various objects. A Joystick is used to control two servos and a pushbutton for the laser. When the photoresistor is hit by the laser then the targets LEDs will light up and it will make some noises throughout. I am using the Basic Stamp on the BOE for this project. The intro song used for the North Pole is "White Christmas" and the song used for the villain is "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
Here is the video: I'm sorry about the quality of video/audio of my cellphone...
Here are some pix:
Materials I picked up a few cheap Christmas decorations at the dollar store and walmart as well as cotton balls, glitter (dont ask) and 9V batteries for about $10. I threw everything on top of a pizza box and had used other cardboard boxes for things. I had to pick up two servos, LEDs, photoresistors, a speaker, joystick, various resistors and wire from radioshack. I had used my $50 gift card Ive been holding on to for a year. The laser was bought off of amazon for like $5. The BOE was picked up at the beginning of the semester.
The Code: Xmas_project(final).bs2
And a link to a forum post incase this is all fubar http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144736-How-the-Grinch-Stole-Xmas
Here is a link of my project for this contest. http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144736-How-the-Grinch-Stole-Xmas
-Dan
Took care of that for you.
Thanks for submitting your project!
JJ
Getting the prop to dim the lights
Testing the first prototype
One of the completed and populated boards.
The DMX Director
Full Show
This show has 96 DMX-512 channels available, with the "Mega Tree" being 64 of those channels. My wife created all of the shows that we display during the Christmas season.
Merry Christmas everyone!
I have appended the code. I will document it on the Projects forum tomorrow.
I threw together some simple animation of light strings for the 2011 Trucker Christmas Parade in Eureka, California. I helped out the Timber Heritage Association. It was started late, so the second SSR box was not made. With the animation and lights everyone put on, we earned second place in the light truck category that year. This year my stamp was doing a school project. Each out put uses a 3 amp SSR to control the AC strings, fused at 2 amps.
Three sets of animation, with three channels each. The wheels used six strings of lights, two each channel. I arranged them as spokes. Trouble was the other side rotated backwards and I was too tired at that point to think clearly to fix it. The front of the speeder had two windows and a grill. That became two eyes and a mouth. The eyes blink on and off and wink using three channels. The last three channels were unused, but were made to simulate a chase sign for the group's initials.
The SSR box is a three gang electrical outlet box, with the plug cord cut off an old UPS. The SSRs and fuses all fit within the box tightly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxc7ilvOvN4
http://www.timberheritage.org is the group.
I love Old Blue, but she had a few weaknesses, and line following was one of them. The contrast threshholds were hardwired in (no software adjustment), and finding suitable lines and backgrounds was always a pain. I added a series potentiometer to the two IR LEDs (also in series) to reduce the IR illumination to adjust the high/low transistion. I used a 10K pot on hand, but a 500-ohm unit would be superior, since ~200 ohms was all that was necessary. Also, I discovered that the sensor height needed to be raised for optimum view of the illuminated line, so I made it a tail-dragger by removing the tail wheel and adding a simple skid.
The red & green LEDs on Old Blue made it a natural for this Christmas contest.
My joyfully compact code for line-following:
The judges will convene and we shall announce the winners later today.
Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful holiday projects!
Photos:
This Robot is a BOE-Bot clone using a Parallax SumoBot controller board and a few spare parts. The program is a blend of Ping)))Dar - Scan For and Go To Closest Object and three of the songs from the Christmas Caroling Device (I flat out stole Jessicas Christmas Carols).
Video:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4165730868296
' -----[ Title ]--------------------------------------------------------------' The "Carolinator" - GoToClosestCarolingObject.bs2 ' Based on Smart Sensors and Applications - GoToClosestObject.bs2 ' Sweep Ping))) Ultrasonic Rangefinder across 180-degrees and find the closest ' object. Then calculate and execute the turn required to face the object. ' Travel forward until the object is less than or equal to 20 cm from the front ' of the rangefinder. ' And Plays a variety of Christmas songs from CarolingDeviceWithLights.bs2 ' This is for the Phil-Bot: a Boe-Bot clone using a SumoBot board: 12-14-2012 ' IMPORTANT: This program has several constants that have to be tuned before ' it will work right. Follow the instructions in Smart Sensors ' and Applications, Chapter 8, Activity #4 and #5 before you run ' this program! ' {$STAMP BS2} ' Target device = BASIC Stamp 2 ' {$PBASIC 2.5} ' Language = PBASIC 2.5 ' -----[ EEPROM Data ]-------------------------------------------------------- ' Store information needed to play "Deck the Halls" ' Deck the halls with boughs of holly Notes_DTH DATA "C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "G", "A", "F", ' Fa la la la la la la la la "G", "A", "b", "G", "A", "G", "F", "E", "F", ' Tis the season to be jolly "C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "G", "A", "F", ' Fa la la la la la la la la "G", "A", "b", "G", "A", "G", "F", "E", "F", ' Don we now out gay apparel "G", "A", "b", "G", "A", "b", "C", "G", ' Fa la la la la la la la la "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "E", "D", "C", ' Toll the ancient yuletide carol "C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "G", "A", "F", ' Fa la la la la la la la la "D", "D", "D", "D", "C", "b", "A", "G", "F", "Q" Octaves_DTH DATA 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6 Durations_DTH DATA 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4, 2, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4, 2, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4, 8, 8, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4, 2 Dots_DTH DATA 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 ' Store information needed to play "Jingle Bells" ' Dashing through the snow Notes_JB DATA "D", "B", "A", "G", "D", "R", ' In a one horse open sleigh "D", "D", "D", "B", "A", "G", "E", "R", ' O'er the fields we go "E", "C", "B", "A", "g", "R", ' Laughing all the way "D", "D", "C", "A", "B", ' Bells on bobtail ring "D", "B", "A", "G", "D", "R", ' Making spirits bright "D", "B", "A", "G", "E", "R", ' What fun it is to ride and sing "E", "E", "C", "B", "A", "D", "D", "D", ' A sleighing song tonight "D", "E", "D", "C", "A", "G", "R", ' Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells "B", "B", "B", "B", "B", "B", ' Jingle all the way "B", "D", "G", "A", "B", "R", ' Oh what fun it is to ride "C", "C", "C", "C", "C", "B", "B", ' In a one horse open sleigh "B", "B", "B", "A", "A", "B", "B", "D", ' Jingle bells, jingle bells "B", "B", "B", "B", "B", "B", ' Jingle all the way "B", "D", "G", "A", "B", "R", ' Oh what fun it is to ride "C", "C", "C", "C", "C", "B", "B", ' In a one horse open sleigh "B", "B", "D", "D", "C", "A", "G", "Q" Octaves_JB DATA 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6 Durations_JB DATA 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 8, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 8, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 ' Store information needed to play "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" ' We wish you a Merry Christmas Notes_MC DATA "e", "a", "a", "b", "a", "G", "F", "F", ' We wish you a Mery Christmas "F", "b", "b", "C", "b", "a", "G", "e", ' We wish you a Merry Christmas "e", "C", "C", "d", "C", "b", "a", "F", ' And a Happy New Year "e", "e", "F", "b", "G", "a", ' Good tidings we bring to you and your kin "e", "a", "a", "a", "G", "G", "a", "G", "F", "e", ' Good tidings for Christmas "b", "C", "b", "a", "e", "e", ' And a Happy New Year "e", "e", "F", "b", "G", "a", "Q" Octaves_MC DATA 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 Durations_MC DATA 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 2 ' -----[ I/O Definitions ]---------------------------------------------------- ' Ping))) Ultrasonc Rangefinder and Mounting Bracket PingServo PIN 14 ' Servo that directs Ping))) snsr Ping PIN 15 ' Ping))) sensor signal pin ' Boe-Bot servo pins (Left and right are from driver's seat perspective.) BotServoLeft PIN 13 ' Left drive servo BotServoRight PIN 12 ' Right drive servo Speaker PIN 5 ' piezo Speaker and LED ' -----[ Constants ]---------------------------------------------------------- ' Ping))) mounting bracket constants LimitLeft CON 330 ' Bracket 90-degrees Left - 1250 LimitRight CON 1195 ' Bracket 90-degrees Right - 250 Center CON 770 ' Center/0-degree pulse duration - 750 Increment CON 15 ' Increment for pulse sweeping MinSweep CON 40 ' Pulses -> 90-degree right ' Boe-Bot continuous rotation servo control constants FwdLeftFast CON 850 ' Fast settings - straight ahead - 850 FwdRightFast CON 645 ' Stock - 660 BackUpLeft CON 723 ' Backs Up Slow BackUpRight CON 780 ' Backs Up Slow RotateRight CON 762 ' Boe-Bot rotate right pulse - 765 RotateLeft CON 739 ' Boe-Bot rotate left pulse - 735 BtwnPulses CON 20 ' ms between servo pulses ' Ping))) Ultrasonic Rangefinder constants CmConstant CON 2260 ' Echo time -> cm with ** - 2260 SinCosTo256 CON 517 ' For */ -127..127 -> -256..256 - 517 Ms20 CON 330 ' 20 ms worth of cm ' MSB sign (twos complement) Negative CON 1 ' Negative sign (bit-15) Positive CON 0 ' Positive sign (bit-15) ' Ping and turning axis geometry PingDirToAngle CON 8700 ' Servo pulse to angle ** con - 8454 PingAxleOffset CON 7 ' 7 cm between ping))) and axis - 7 StopDistance CON 20 ' The adjusted distance at STOP - 20 ' -----[ Variables ]---------------------------------------------------------- time VAR Word ' Ping))) echo time pingDir VAR Word ' Pulse duration -> direction x VAR Word ' x coordinate y VAR Word ' y coordinate distance VAR Time ' Object centimeter distance markDir VAR y ' Pulse points to closest object rightMark VAR x ' Pulse to object's right side leftMark VAR pingDir ' Pulse to object's left side pulses VAR x ' +/- brads to turn toward object PrevDist VAR Byte ' Previous distance measurement angle VAR Byte ' Servo angle from right in brads counter VAR angle ' Loop counter minDist VAR angle ' Minimum distance measurement sweepInc VAR Nib ' Increment for servo sweep sweepDir VAR Bit ' Increment/decrement pingDir xSign VAR Bit ' Stores sign of x variable ySign VAR xSign ' Stores sign of x variable pSign VAR Bit ' Sign of pulses variable edgesFound VAR Bit ' Navigation flag ' -----[ Christmas songs Variables ]------------------------------------------ offset VAR Nib ' Variable space for LOOKUP table index VAR Byte ' Index for pointing at data carolCounter VAR Byte ' Index for Christmas Carol noteDot VAR Bit ' Stores if a note is dotted or not noteOctave VAR Nib ' Stores the octave of each note noteLetter VAR Byte ' Stores the letter of each note noteFreq VAR Word ' Stores the frequency of each note noteDuration VAR Word ' Stores the duration of each note ' -----[ Initialization ]----------------------------------------------------- FOR counter = 1 TO 20 ' Centers Ping))) PULSOUT PingServo, Center PAUSE 20 NEXT PAUSE 2000 ' Delay program start by 3 seconds ' -----[ Main Routine ]------------------------------------------------------- DO WHILE(1) IF (carolCounter >= 3) THEN ' Set carolCounter to Zero carolCounter = 0 ENDIF GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' First distance measurement ' If notheing is in range, Go forward and Hunt! DO UNTIL distance <= 250 ' Repeat until distance <= 250 cm GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Get new distance PULSOUT BotServoLeft, FwdLeftFast ' Boe-Bot forward PULSOUT BotServoRight, FwdRightFast PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20) ' 20 ms pause between pulses LOOP DO UNTIL distance <= StopDistance ' Repeat until distance <= 20 cm edgesFound = 0 ' Clear edges found flag DO UNTIL edgesFound = 1 ' Repeat until edges found = 1 GOSUB Face_Closest_Object ' Find & face closest object LOOP GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Get current distance DO UNTIL distance <= StopDistance ' Drive toward object prevDist = distance MAX 255 ' Current distance -> previous GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Get new distance PULSOUT BotServoLeft, FwdLeftFast ' Boe-Bot forward PULSOUT BotServoRight, FwdRightFast PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20) ' 20 ms pause between pulses IF distance >= prevDist + 7 THEN EXIT ' Exit if distance increasing was 5 LOOP LOOP ' Main routine's outermost loop IF (carolCounter = 0) THEN GOSUB Deck_The_Halls ' Play "Deck the Halls" ELSEIF (carolCounter = 1) THEN GOSUB Jingle_Bells ' Play "Jingle Bells" ELSEIF (carolCounter = 2) THEN GOSUB Merry_Christmas ' Play "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" ELSE PAUSE 20 ' Pause for 20 ms ENDIF carolCounter = carolCounter + 1 PAUSE 1000 FOR counter = 0 TO 30 ' Back up about 10 cm PULSOUT BotServoLeft, BackUpLeft PULSOUT BotServoRight, BackUpRight PULSOUT PingServo, Center ' Keeps Ping))) Facing Forward PAUSE 20 NEXT FOR counter = 1 TO 125 ' Turn around 180 Degrees PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateRight PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateRight PULSOUT PingServo, Center ' Keeps Ping))) Facing Forward PAUSE 20 NEXT LOOP END ' -----[ Subroutines - BoeBot_Turn_Brads ]----------------------------------- ' Boe-Bot turns a certain number of binary radians to face an object. BoeBot_Turn_Brads: IF pSign = Negative THEN ' Stock Positive FOR counter = 0 TO ABS(pulses) PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateRight PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateRight PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20) NEXT ELSE FOR counter = 0 TO ABS(pulses) PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateLeft PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateLeft PAUSE BtwnPulses - (distance / Ms20) NEXT ENDIF RETURN ' -----[ Subroutines - Face_Closest_Object ]---------------------------------- ' Scan for closest object using a Ping))) rangefinder mounted on a standard ' servo. Locate the middle fo the object, and turn Boe-Bot to face it. Face_Closest_Object: ' Initialize sweep increment. sweepInc = Increment ' Start Servo rotated to the far right. pingDir = LimitRight GOSUB Point_At_PingDir ' Make minDist large and sweepDir positive (0). Single_Sweep sweeps ' left -> right while measuring object distances and stores the direction ' of the closest object in markDir. minDist = 65535 sweepDir = Positive GOSUB Single_Sweep ' Point the servo in the direction of the closest distance measurement. pingDir = markDir GOSUB Point_At_PingDir ' Scan to find object's right side. GOSUB Find_Right_Side IF edgesFound = 0 THEN RETURN ' Point the servo in the direction of the closest distance measurement. pingDir = markDir GOSUB Point_At_PingDir ' Scan to find object's right side. GOSUB Find_Left_Side IF edgesFound = 0 THEN RETURN ' Average the angles to the object's left and right sides. That's the ' middle of the object. Point rangefinder in that direction. pingDir = leftMark + rightMark / 2 GOSUB Point_At_PingDir ' At this point, the Ping))) should be pointing directly at the closest ' object. ' Calculate the angle to the object's angle in brads, and turn the ' Boe-Bot to face that angle. GOSUB Turn_Angle_Adjust GOSUB BoeBot_Turn_Brads ' Face Ping))) rangefinder straight ahead. pingDir = Center GOSUB Point_At_PingDir RETURN ' -----[ Subroutines - Find_Left_Side ]--------------------------------------- ' Scan left until the measured distance is 10 cm beyond the closest distance, ' which is assumed to mean the object's side has been found. ' If the object's side has been found within the 180-degree field of vision, ' set edgesFound = 1 and store the pulse duration (pingDir) at which the ' object was found in the leftMark variable. ' If the side was not found by the 180-degree point in the scan, rotate the ' Boe-Bot until the edge is found, and then set edgesFound to 0 signifying ' that the scan will have to be repeated because the Boe-Bot rotated ' to find the side, which would otherwise cause the markDir variable to ' store an incorrect value. Find_Left_Side: sweepDir = Positive distance = minDist sweepInc = 1 DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10 GOSUB Sweep_Increment GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm IF pingDir <= LimitLeft - 10 THEN ' Stock >= pingDir = LimitLeft - 50 GOSUB Point_At_PingDir DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10 PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateLeft PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateLeft GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm PAUSE 20 LOOP edgesFound = 0 RETURN ENDIF LOOP leftMark = pingDir edgesFound = 1 RETURN ' -----[ Subroutines - Find_Right_Side ]-------------------------------------- ' Mirror image of Find_Left_Side. Find_Right_Side: sweepDir = Negative distance = minDist sweepInc = 1 DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10 GOSUB Sweep_Increment GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm IF pingDir >= LimitRight + 10 THEN ' Stock <= pingDir = LimitRight + 50 GOSUB Point_At_PingDir DO UNTIL distance > minDist + 10 PULSOUT BotServoLeft, RotateRight PULSOUT BotServoRight, RotateRight GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm PAUSE 20 LOOP edgesFound = 0 RETURN ENDIF LOOP rightMark = pingDir edgesFound = 1 RETURN ' -----[ Subroutine - Get_Ping_Cm ]------------------------------------------- ' Gets Ping))) rangefinder measurement and converts time to centimeters. ' Distance may be declared as time to save variable space. Get_Ping_Cm: PULSOUT Ping, 5 PULSIN Ping, 1, time distance = time ** CmConstant distance = distance + 3 ' Add 3 for Phil's PING))) Bracket RETURN ' -----[ Subroutines - Point_At_PingDir ]------------------------------------- ' Points servo mounted Ping))) rangefinder at an angle determined by the ' value of the pingDir variable. Point_At_PingDir: FOR counter = 0 TO MinSweep PULSOUT PingServo, pingDir PAUSE BtwnPulses NEXT RETURN ' -----[ Subroutine - Polar_To_Cartesian ]------------------------------------ ' Calculates x and y (Cartesian coordinates) given distance and angle ' (polar coordinates). Polar_To_Cartesian: ' Calculate left/right component. x = COS angle ' Polar to Cartesian xSign = x.BIT15 ' Store sign bit x = ABS(x) */ SinCOsTo256 ' Polar to Cartesian continued x = distance */ x IF xSign = negative THEN x = -x ' Correct sign with sign bit ' Calculate straight ahead component. y = SIN angle ' Polar to Cartesian ySign = y.BIT15 ' Store sign bit y = ABS(y) */ SinCOsTo256 ' Polar to Cartesian continued y = distance */ y IF ySign = negative THEN y = -y ' Correct sign with sign bit RETURN ' -----[ Subroutines - Single_Sweep ]----------------------------------------- ' Do one sweep, and find the closest distance measurement and the ' pulse value that points the servo in that direction. Single_Sweep: DO UNTIL pingDir <= LimitLeft ' Stock >= GOSUB Sweep_Increment GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm IF distance < minDist THEN minDist = distance markDir = pingDir ENDIF LOOP RETURN ' -----[ Subroutine - Sweep_Increment ]--------------------------------------- ' Increment/decrement the position of the servo that directs the Ping))) ' rangefinder. When pingDir goes outside either LimitRight or LimitLeft, ' the sweep direction toggles. Sweep_Increment: ' Change sweepDir for adding/subtracting increment if at rotation limit. IF pingDir >= LimitRight THEN ' Stock <= sweepDir = Positive ELSEIF pingDir <= LimitLeft THEN ' Stock >= sweepDir = Negative ENDIF ' Add/subtract increment to/from pingDir. IF sweepDir = negative THEN pingDir = pingDir + sweepInc ' Stock - ELSEIF sweepDir = Positive THEN pingDir = pingDir - sweepInc ' Stock + ENDIF ' Send positioning pulse to Ping))) Mounting Bracket servo. PULSOUT PingServo, pingDir RETURN ' -----[ Subroutines - Turn_Angle_Adjust ]------------------------------------ ' Adjusts required turn angle based on 7 mm offset of Ping))) rangefinder from ' Boe-Bot's turning axis. Turn_Angle_Adjust: ' Get the object's distance at its center. GOSUB Get_Ping_Cm ' Position servo & calculate angle from far-right in brads. angle = pingDir - 250 ** PingDirToAngle GOSUB Polar_To_Cartesian ' Add distance between Ping))) and center of Boe-Bot axis. y = y + PingAxleOffset ' Recalculate the turning angle with respect to Boe-Bot's turning axis. angle = x ATN y pulses = 64 - angle pSign = pulses.BIT15 RETURN ' -----[ Subroutine for Christmas songs ]------------------------------------- ' -----[ Subroutine - Deck_The_Halls ]---------------------------------------- ' Plays the song "Deck the Halls" Deck_The_Halls: ' Subroutine Label index = 0 ' Set index back to 0 for new songs ' Loop until the end of the song, or the center button is pressed DO UNTIL (noteLetter = "Q") 'OR (IN3 = 0) READ Notes_DTH + index, noteLetter: GOSUB Get_Frequency READ Octaves_DTH + index, noteOctave: GOSUB Get_Octave READ Durations_DTH + index, noteDuration: noteDuration = 1000 / noteDuration READ Dots_DTH + index, noteDot IF noteDot = 1 THEN noteDuration = noteDuration * 3 / 2 FREQOUT Speaker, noteDuration, noteFreq ' Play note index = index + 1 ' Increase data pointer by 1 LOOP noteLetter = "R" ' Set note letter to "R" so ' the song will replay RETURN ' Return to Main Program ' -----[ Subroutine - Jingle_Bells ]------------------------------------------ ' Plays the song "Jingle Bells" Jingle_Bells: ' Subroutine label index = 0 ' Set index back to 0 for new songs ' Loop until the end of the song, or the center button is pressed DO UNTIL (noteLetter = "Q") 'OR (IN3 = 0) READ Notes_JB + index, noteLetter: GOSUB Get_Frequency READ Octaves_JB + index, noteOctave: GOSUB Get_Octave READ Durations_JB + index, noteDuration: noteDuration = 900 / noteDuration FREQOUT Speaker, noteDuration, noteFreq ' Play note index = index + 1 ' Increase data pointer by 1 LOOP noteLetter = "R" ' Set note letter to "R" so ' the song will replay RETURN ' Return to Main Program ' -----[ Subroutine - Merry_Christmas ]--------------------------------------- ' Plays the song "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" Merry_Christmas: ' Subroutine label index = 0 ' Set index back to 0 for new songs ' Loop until the end of the song, or the center button is pressed DO UNTIL (noteLetter = "Q") 'OR (IN3 = 0) READ Notes_MC + index, noteLetter: GOSUB Get_Frequency READ Octaves_MC + index, noteOctave: GOSUB Get_Octave READ Durations_MC + index, noteDuration: noteDuration = 1000 / noteDuration FREQOUT Speaker, noteDuration, noteFreq ' Play note index = index + 1 ' Increase data pointer by 1 LOOP noteLetter = "R" ' Set note letter to "R" so ' the song will replay RETURN ' Return to Main Program ' -----[ Subroutine - Get_Frequency ]----------------------------------------- ' Returns the frequency for each corresponding note letter in the 8th octave Get_Frequency: ' Subroutine label LOOKDOWN noteLetter, [ "C", "d", "D", "e", "E", "F", "g", "G", "a", "A", "b", "B", "R", "Q" ], offset LOOKUP offset, [ 4186, 4435, 4699, 4978, 5274, 5588, 5920, 6272, 6645, 7040, 7459, 7902, 0, 0 ], noteFreq RETURN ' -----[ Subroutine - Get_Octave ]-------------------------------------------- ' Calculates what octave the note should be played in Get_Octave: ' Subroutine label noteOctave = 8 - noteOctave noteFreq = noteFreq / (DCD noteOctave) RETURNHappy Holidays, Phil
Mike
@Mike: If I would have had more time, I would have hacked in the Sound Pal from my Mystery bag to play a Christmas carol. But Jen said the contest ended at midnight (seemed a day early, hope that didn't knock Duane and other procrastinators out) so I "cost-reduced" my original concept, which included real toy train boxcars with toy robots riding on top...
Duane, I hope you didn't miss the midnight cutoff with a 90% completed project... If so, post here anyway!
And the winners for the 2012 "Hack The Halls" Contest are
First Place ($300 in Parallax credit) - ke4pjw (Post #77)
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1152158&viewfull=1#post1152158
"Propeller Powered Christmas Lights Project and the Griswold FX - Rudolph 16 Custom Board" - ke4pjw provided an excellent video explaining his process and his programming. He also made his own custom control board. The light show looked beautiful. Seriously where can we get a Rudolph 16 board? Judge quote: "Fricking bad ***!"
Second Place ($200 in Parallax credit) - Ray-D (Post #70)
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1151978&viewfull=1#post1151978
"Propeller Powered Christmas Clock" - Judges liked the custom Propeller controlled boards that were created, the versatility of the clock, and the level of detail that went into its creation.
Third Place ($100 in Parallax credit) - shyerdj (Post #73)
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1152082&viewfull=1#post1152082
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas Game" - shyerdj created a North Pole diorama with LEDs and photoresistors. He then added an interactive component with a remote controlled Grinch with laser cannon. It is a great looking finished piece and it's interactive. Judge quote: "Yea! Lasers and glitter!"
Honorable Mention ($75 in Parallax credit) - halfblinddado (Post #48)
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?144156-CONTEST-Hack-The-Halls!&p=1149294&viewfull=1#post1149294
Judges were only going to award 3 prizes, but we had to add an Honorable Mention because of this project. A 3-D printer was used to create a nice Wintry sculpture which was then lit from underneath with LEDs. Jessica's 'Christmas Scribbler Caroling Robot' tutorial was then modified for the project.
PS: Tommy, resubmit your Gift Guard 9000 next year. It's a timeless, useful concept which should stay plenty fresh in that Tupperware if you burp it!