The Control Box
Our "black box" serves as the main control box for our PAC and houses the majority of the electronics. The control box is extremely sturdy as it contains a solid wood frame and reinforcements. Acrylic and painted wood panels give the box a clean and polished look. In order to mount the box in a robust fashion, we also built a wooden stand capable of taking any reasonable amount of loading without tipping or breaking. A foam-core cutout of the genie is attached to the front of the stand because....well.......just because. The control box has a number of user interactions which we have outlined below.
Special Action via Sword Swing
We like toy swords and thought it would be awesome to swing a sword on our PAC and have our LOBBYIST do the same. So, we implemented an IR sensor that triggers when our sword impacts the slot in the control box. This special action was a ton of fun during gameplay. Sadly, we were the only team to implement a special action so the sword was only of use when we were paired with our own LOBBYIST. |
Emergency Brake Button
Every LOBBYIST was difficult to control and was tuned for a different controller. As such, faster hovercrafts had the tendency to start spinning wildly. In order to regain control and help us steer, we included an emergency stop button that, while pressed, killed the lift fan of the LOBBYIST allowing us to stop in place. |
Sound Effects via Two Speakers
As an added bit of fun and to give user feedback, we added two speakers to the control box that made different sounds for each user action. Additionally, these speakers allowed us to play the Aladdin soundtrack while working and during gameplay, which was great for team morale. |
The Flying Carpet
One of our favorite parts of this project was being able to control our LOBBYIST via flying carpet. To create this sensation we utilized suspension (in the form of a mini trampoline) and a wooden disc. The platform is designed and fabricated such that the platform tilt will correspond to the movement of the controlled LOBBYIST. A three-axis accelerometer placed in a cutout under the wooden disc allows for sensing of the tilt of the platform. Fabric is placed over the platform to give the user the feeling of flying on a magic carpet ride. Finally, to allow for easy transportation, the wooden disc is secured to the suspension using 3 adjustable sets of strap buckles spaced evenly around the circumference of the disc.