Click Hanger

Andrea and I built a little game based the Price is Right’s Cliff Hanger. The original intent was to pay homage to the absurd amount of mouse clicks we all must make in a single day by sending the ol’ mountain climber up the hill. I spent much of day 3 researching open source options for logging mouse clicks from Windows. Since every option I found was written in C, I began what I soon discovered was the daunting task of installing C compilers and debuggers without any knowledge whatsoever of C. There was some problem with the debugger installation that I could not overcome in one day, and my code would not compile, so we decided to drop that piece of the project for the time being and simulate it with a Processing application. The processing application stores into mySQL a value every time the mouse is clicked.

What began as more of a comment on our agressive use of computers has turned into a game. The mountain climber moves up the mountain with each click on the blue square. Other users can sabotage the mountain climber by causing an avalanche. Try it, it’s fun!

2 comments | August 1st, 2008

Is My Roommate Home?

Better late than never is my post about Day 2’s project! Sometimes you just want to be alone. If you’re already out and you knew your roommate would be in your apartment, you may decide to stay out. Likewise if you knew your roommate was gone, you might decide to stay in and relax while watching your shows. The solution is “Is My Roommate Home?” This device will *eventually* email, text, or call you with rommate status. Hardware issues prevented me from actually hooking this up to the Internet, but in the spirit of completing one project in one day, I’m happy with the progress. Main parts include a photocell, digital switch, and of course, and Arduino. See below for explanation.

A photocell (or ideally an IR sensor, which I could not obtain on short notice) attached to the ceiling inside your apartment, several feet from your front door, recognizes a change in light. This means that your roommate is inside your apartment and is either on his/her way out or his/her way in. The second piece is below.

This simple digital switch is made of scrap metal. One piece is attached to the door and the other to the threshold. When the door is closed the switch is on, and when the door is open the switch is off. If the photocell reading occurs before the switch opens, your roommate has left the apartment. If the switch opens before the photocell reading, your roommate has arrived. In each case you will be notified by either SMS/phone/email.

Here are photos of the breadboard and a bird’s eye view of the entire uninstalled device. The device is missing an XPort to connect this to the Internet. Luckily I have the code for this, so I plan to wrap this up next week after 5in5 is over.

1 comment | August 1st, 2008

Summer Mittens

Well, since labor day is right around the corner, and leaves will start falling soon after, Day 1’s project had to be Summer Mittens. I’m simply running out of time to wear them. Besides the ability to keep you cool, these mittens will satisfy to the OCD patient in you. I used a breathable jersey cotton fitted sheet, facecloth, and a small freezer pack the size of a serving of soy sauce. Here is a picture of both of them:

A pouch lining the wrist contains the freezer pack. It helps to cool the body on those steamy summer days:

To make your own pattern, just trace your hand. Then make some summer mittens!

2 comments | July 29th, 2008