Electronic Ouija Board
JonnyMac
Posts: 8,918
My friend, fellow former Parallaxian, and partner at EFX-TEK John Barrowman wanted to build an electronic Ouija Board for Halloween and for future trade shows. It's really very simple, and a derivative of our Stranger Things wall from this year's Transworld show.
Parts (that we used)
-- EFX-TEK HC-8+ Controller
-- HM-10 BLE Radio
-- Brilliant Bulb Christmas lights from www.holidaycoro.com
The program is simple. When a string comes in from a phone via the BLE module, it is compared to a list of known commands. If the string is a command that is executed. There are commands to change the background color (10 colors), the spelling color (10 colors), and shortcuts for Yes, No, and Goodbye. If the received string is not known to the program, it is spelled out on the letters and numbers.
The picture is of John's step-son Ollie on Halloween. He said nothing to the trick-or-treaters. John was in earshot manning the candy bowl. Of course, he was running a BLE app to send strings so he could send the answers to the Ouija board while TOTs thought he was checking email. It was a big hit, and I'm writing about the code in my January column.
Parts (that we used)
-- EFX-TEK HC-8+ Controller
-- HM-10 BLE Radio
-- Brilliant Bulb Christmas lights from www.holidaycoro.com
The program is simple. When a string comes in from a phone via the BLE module, it is compared to a list of known commands. If the string is a command that is executed. There are commands to change the background color (10 colors), the spelling color (10 colors), and shortcuts for Yes, No, and Goodbye. If the received string is not known to the program, it is spelled out on the letters and numbers.
The picture is of John's step-son Ollie on Halloween. He said nothing to the trick-or-treaters. John was in earshot manning the candy bowl. Of course, he was running a BLE app to send strings so he could send the answers to the Ouija board while TOTs thought he was checking email. It was a big hit, and I'm writing about the code in my January column.
Comments
Thanks for sharing this.
That would not be the same John Barrowman of Torchwoord, Dr. Who and Arrow fame would it?
There are a bunch of my Hollywood projects here that use the HC-8+ as a master, and sometimes as a slave controller:
-- https://www.pinterest.com/jonmcphalen/techno-art/
Funny thing... that John Barrowman is a distant cousin of my friend.
We both have show-biz names. My legal name is Williams, but SAG told me to "get a new name" when I chose to become a professional because -- even though he spells his name differently -- that pesky Star Wars composer John Williams got there first.
Yeah, I have seen your work before. Very impressive and inspiring. The "Grommash Hellscream " is simply awesome.
The HC-8+ looks very cool. I'm looking to create an Animatronic Character and this may fit the bill perfectly.
Been eying the Stan Winston Animatronic DVD series to get more familiar with this genre. Seems like a great way to combine both Robotics and Art.
Blast that JW dude. Who'd a thought that Star Wars thang would be so popular.
Good job Jon and John!
Nice article in the recent Jan'18 edition of Nuts and Volts - "FUN & GAMES WITH THE PROPELLER".
Very well done and nicely detailed.
nutsvolts.texterity.com/nutsvolts/201801/?folio=16&pg=16#pg16