Updated hardware!

Here's a shot of the HCS12 with ribbon wires that connect to the HCS12.

Collecting the data

In an effort to gather data for game play, we set up the board in the casing with actual solo cups on top filled with nuts to hold them down. Then, we used the wii numchuck and simulated game play by throwing the ball into the cups with the numchuck in hand.

^ Jim getting ready to shoot

^ the set up

^ the numchuck

^values received from the numchuck

stay tuned!

Creating the casing

With the help of Eric, we were able to create an acrylic casing for our project!! First, it was drawn in CAD then produced using the laser cutter. See below for a fully put together casing with the initialize program running:

stay tuned for further progress from this week!

Tackling the code

The code warrior himself!:

We began to construct the code by first hard coding the initial state of the cups. Then, functions were written to incorporate the different re-racks seen on the previous post. Once the code was written, the monoboards were connected to the HCS12 and de-bugging ensued.

Stay tuned for our de-bugging adventures and perhaps even a video!

Re-rack Layouts

To fully represent the game of beer pong, we created several layouts for various re-racks which are based on the number of cups remaining. Below are the names of each of the re-racks and a picture of the layout. In later posts, the coding for these will be discussed.

Re-rack Types:

Line 3 - 3 cups

Line 2 - 2 cups

Initial Rack Layout - 6 cups

House - 5 cups

Forward Triangle - 3 cups

Diamond - 4 cups

Center - 1 cup

Backwards Triangle - 3 cups

Stay tuned!!

Bring on the monoboards

After the epic fail of the Peggy board, we onto a monoboard adventure. We recieved 4 monoboards and connected them in series after soldering on the LEDs. Here's a picture:

Once everything was put together, we tested the connection using the power supply. And yes, a video will be coming shortly!! Once the board was fully constructed, we began creating the code for our 2 player virtual pong game. Also, we began contemplating designs for a case.

Stay tuned!

The Peggy Debacle

Once the Peggy 2.0 board came in, we immediately began soldering on the LEDs (25 x 25) and other components, including transistors, resistors, and the microcontroller. Each LED was tested to ensure that all connections were alright. The Peggy would be programmed in Arduino, a platform neither of us have used before. Here is a picture of the board:

However, the debacle occurred when we went to test the Peggy board. We ran sample code given on the product's website whose purpose was to turn on all of the LEDs. Only 4 columns of LEDs actually lit while the current got increasingly higher and the microcontroller got extremely hot. We pursued several methods of determining the issue with the board. First, we double check each of the components soldered onto the board. Then, we de-soldering several LEDs that could possibly be causing the problems. Additionally, we tested the multiplexers and LED drivers to see if they functioned individually. Despite all of our efforts, the Peggy board would still not function properly and in the interest of time (since we spent over a week trying to fix the problems!) we decided to switch to using the monoboards.

Stay tuned as we switch gears to using the monoboards and begin testing!

The Project

Welcome to our blog site for our ESE 350 Term Project Spring 2010!

For our project, we decided to create a virtual beer pong game. To simulate the game, we would have a board of LEDs to represent the 6 cups in different orientations. This board would powered using a microcontroller. To determine if a cup was made, our plan was to interface the Firefly node with the HCS12 microcontroller and use values from the accelerometer to gauge the player's throw force.

We began by ordering a board called the Peggy 2.0 which had its own microcontroller incorporated. The website description for the Peggy 2.0 is: http://s3.amazonaws.com/evilmadscience/KitInstrux/peggy2.pdf

Now, all we needed to do was wait for the Peggy to arrive and begin soldering/coding!! Stay tuned!