How do I build an electronic device?
January 22, 2020 7:19 AM   Subscribe

I'd like to build a relatively simple electronics project, but I have no idea where to start. My parents have a couple of largish ceramic bin thingies on the floor of their kitchen, and it has become a bit of a game of skill to toss wine corks into them. I'd like to create a "scoreboard" for this game that lights up and plays a fanfare when a player gets a cork in the bin. I'm envisioning a circular base mounted to some sort of pressure sensor wired to a separate device with the actual lights and speaker on it.

Note that this device doesn't actually need to keep score (I'm planning on adding old school flipping numbers for that purpose).

Things I need to know:

Will a pressure sensor work for something as light as a cork thrown from across the room? Where do I buy these sorts of components? Is this a job for an Arduino (I have some access to that sort of stuff through work)? How do I wire the lights up so that they blink/chase/whatever? What sort of storage device do I need for the audio clip?

I'd love someone to walk me through all the steps of this, but I'd also be fine with links to resources where I can teach myself. I'd be happy spending $50-100 bucks on this, but anything above that is going to be hard to justify for a gag gift.
posted by Rock Steady to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I think you could probably make this happen with an arduino and a force sensitive resistor, yeah. This looks like a decent link to get started with understanding the problem space and building a google dictionary. Doesn't look like this would be too pricey either. One thing: from googling it looks like a wine cork weighs around 50g? That looks like it's below the tolerance for some of the force sensors I'm seeing, so just make sure that it goes that low before buying.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:43 AM on January 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


It might be possible to do this with a motion sensor instead, which would remove the need for sensitivity specific force pads.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:45 AM on January 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


I'd find a toy that does this already, and disassemble it to the point that you could put the sensor where it needs to be and put the display someplace visible. No sense in reinventing the wheel.
posted by Wild_Eep at 7:48 AM on January 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


Your ceramic bin thingy is a pickling crock.
posted by HotToddy at 7:58 AM on January 22, 2020 [5 favorites]


Battery powered wireless wide angle camera like used for drones, to be placed inside container, aimed at bottom. Send video to a computer or tablet or phone, and use Processing to trigger lights . If you use differently colored corks you could keep score.
posted by Sophont at 8:14 AM on January 22, 2020


Response by poster: > HotToddy: Your ceramic bin thingy is a pickling crock.

Bless you, that was a secondary question I forgot to add.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:39 AM on January 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


The Adafruit Circuit Playground Express would work pretty well for this sort of thing. Inexpensive, self-contained, easy to program, built-in battery charger. There's a built-in accelerometer you could use -- just affix the thing to a flap of cardboard or something and have it go off when it moves. There are blinkenlights and a speaker built in too.

The force sensitive resistors are not very sensitive and not trivial to set up for a beginner (you'd need an op-amp, I think). Since you seem to be approaching this as a "how do I do this thing" instead of a "I want to learn electronics and this project seems to be a good excuse" I wouldn't really recommend it.
posted by neckro23 at 9:56 AM on January 22, 2020 [8 favorites]


Haha holy crap yeah, neckro23 has it I think. That looks perfect.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:08 AM on January 22, 2020


My kids have a pair of those Adafruit Circuits and they are quite easy to program. If you get a pair they can communicate with eachother using IR so one could be for registering the shot was made and the other for the lights and sound.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:55 AM on January 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


My seven year old can program the Circuit Playground. It was what I immediately thought of when I read the question.

Another thing that doesn't require any programming is LittleBits. They have a proximity sensor bit, an accelerometer bit, a buzzer bit and light bits. They snap together with magnets, and you're done.
posted by soren_lorensen at 2:26 PM on January 22, 2020


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