My Triumphs, My Mistakes

Time to face facts. Well, really facts were faced days or weeks ago but for the sake of this blogpost, let's pretend like I'm facing facts today. Last weekend I finally broke down and told my friend, for whom I'm making the 5x5 box, that I was making it, failing at making it and that he wouldn't be getting it for his wedding. That took some weight off of me, especially because now I can share this blog and talk to other people about this no longer secret project.

Last weekend I made a big push. I went looking for supplies and I made do with what I could find. I salvaged some wire from old Ghost Patrol projects, which wasn't ideal to begin with, and I soldered that to the LCD I had to the pins I thought I'd need. I went down to The Shack and looked for header pins but they didn't even know what I was talking about. I also looked for some 5.7 ohm resistors so I could run the LCD backlight. I didn't know enough about resistors to find what I was looking for and neither did the sales people there. You know, it rarely occurs to me to use my phone to Google useful information in the moment. Anyway, the only thing I did find that I needed was a 10k potentiometer. Then I headed to the art supply store to look for an acceptable box or box substitute. I figured that I could at least find something acceptable to prototype on. I ended up buying a wooden box frame that people apparently use to paint. We used them to make the Ouija boards for Ghost Patrol and they worked great.

Here's what happened: I did some awful, awful soldering on the LCD. I used a super crappy Dremel rip off to try to drill and cut appropriate size holes in my wood box. It didn't work. I made one hole too close to the edge. I wrecked tons of bits on that awful machine and finally pretty much wrecked the machine itself. Wrong tool for the job. No doubt. I couldn't get the LCD to work at all. Not at all.

Here's what I learned: First, I remembered that power tools can be rented from the Berkeley Public Library. I could be using the right tools for the job. I also realized that if I wanted to really make this work, I had to go about it properly from the very beginning.

I went on SparkFun and ordered two new LCDs (I plan to make more boxes so...) and some header pins. I soldered the header pins to the LCDs. I also ordered some small breadboards but they only have 17 pins and the LCDs have 16 so I'll have to use them for something else as I'd really like to have the LCD, the potentiometer and the Polulu all on the same breadboard. Today I had my first modicum of success. I mounted one of my pinned up LCDs to the breadboard, used the tutorial I posted previously and voila, text!

I'm totally stoked just to have this minor success. I've ordered a beautiful wood box from a seller on Etsy and it should be here on Tuesday. I've devised, in my mind, an awesome self-latching system that requires no electrical bits to operate and can be opened just by sliding a credit card between the lid and the box. If I can make that work, that'll be super cool.

So I'm definitely going to keep working on this project until it reaches fruition. I had just about given up but now I have confidence I can eventually accomplish this and move on to another cool puzzle/project box idea.

You're Gonna Need This...

http://sites.google.com/site/mechatronicsguy/arduinocheatsheet

Okay, it's been a long time since I've updated this blog. The reason? Almost nothing interesting has happened in the world of me making things. I recently took up the Ukulele and that has been filling all of my creative outlet hours. But the problem is that I've made very little progress on the 5x5 Box. I tried to get the LCD display going a few weekends ago, to no avail. I am buying a proper box this week and hope to cut/drill all the hole I'll need in it on Saturday. Sunday will be a day filled with curses. Sunday I will try to get the box in as near of working order as possible. In order to do this, I am having to open myself up to the idea of de-scoping and re-scoping some of my ideas.

For instance:

• If I can't get the LCD to display properly, I may need to consider finding a way to use turning LEDs on and off the provide feedback.
• If I can't get the Arduino sketch I've worked on to create random sets, I may need to just program a set.
• If I can't get the Polulu to work, I may need to just put in an On/Off switch.
• If I can't get the servo idea to work, I may need to just find a way to tell the user how to open a combination lock or something, to retrieve their prize.
• If I can't get my sketch to work the way I want it to, I may need to create a puzzle to overlay on or include with the box. (That, actually, is a really good idea for a future puzzle box. It could have an overlay with an input on it. The input would tell the Arduino what sketch to run. Different overlays could run different sketches? I'll have to think on this more.)

So there are lots of options I'm willing to explore to deliver something that at least looks cool. I know that I won't be so willing to let go, though. If this doesn't work out exactly as I'd like, I could easily see a Mark 2 model coming in the future.

5x5 Parts List

All of the parts I need to make this project happen have been delivered! I'll start posting pics of the build as soon as it begins but, for now, he's a list of the parts:

Arduino Duemilanove
This is the "brain" of the box and runs the software sketch I'm designing (more on that later) and is really what makes this project possible.

Basic 16x2 Character LCD - White on Black - 5V
LCD display for feedback messages.

Momentary Push Buttons (6)
Buttons for game initialization and input.

Push Button Power Switch
This ingenious little device allows for the Arduino to be powered on by a momentary push button and then to power itself off once it reaches that point in the sketch.

Small Servo
This will conrol the arm that will dispense the gift card.

Battery Pack
Power!

Breadboard
I'm pretty lazy so I'll probably prototype on the breadboard and then, once everything works, I'll just use a mountain of hot glue to make it 'permanent'.

So that's it. I feel like I'm leaving something out; like this list of parts is too simple to actually perform the task that will be asked of it. The component I am most worried about is the LCD. I'm not using the same LCD as the Frustromantic so I can't just copy his diagram. I'm actually going to have to make sense of the documentation. Although, it just occurred to me that I can look at the documentation for the LCD that the Frustromantic uses and then map that to the documentation for the LCD I purchased. Another note, I'm super happy that the metal buttons came from Hong Kong and weren't stolen off of my porch. They are gorgeous and perfect for this project. I also ordered these push buttons in a variety of colors and they are great too. They have a wonderful arcade feel to them. They'll be awesome for a future puzzle box project but the metal buttons are really the sophisticated and sleek vision I had for this box.

Life Has A Funny Way Of Making Me Look Like A Chump

So, following my little parts rant yesterday regarding how long it takes for parts to be delivered from Hong Kong, I went to the SparkFun website to order another USB cable so I could at least program my Arduino. While I was there I decided to order a Polulu switch (a device the will allow my box to power itself down between uses) and the servo needed to dispense the gift card through the front of the box.

While there I decided that I might as well accept the fact that the parts I'd ordered from SeeedStudio Depot might never arrive and it might behoove me to go ahead and order more buttons as well. Sure, they wouldn't be the shiny silver buttons I'd originally wanted but they'd be buttons. SparkFun had an assortment of colored plastic buttons of the same size and shape I'd wanted. They had six colors and I ordered one of each color, thinking that the red button would turn the box on and the other buttons would be multi-colored and fun looking. Unfortunately, they'd also make Jenn and Brian think a color puzzle of some kind was involved. Hmmm... not ideal but whatever.

Anyway, I ordered all of these parts which did assuage some of the panic of a project missing its deadline, even though I hadn't set any benchmarks or deadlines. This morning, upon returning from brunch with Rachel and her cousin, Elena, I found a little box on my porch... from Hong Kong! Yay! On one hand, I feel like a chump for ordering those extra buttons yesterday. On the other hand, I'm super stoked to have the shiny buttons I'd imagined for the project. It's also great that I've now ordered all of the main components of the project and can begin prototyping on a breadboard. I'll also be able to use the colored buttons for another project (maybe some kind of Mastermind box!) and can even use the red botton as the power button for this project, if I choose. I don't think I will, though. I want this box to look super sophisticated and a plastic red button doesn't speak to that ideal.

I'm totally stoked and can't wait to get started on the hard work of this project!

Hong Kong = Far Away

I've been really wanting to post a parts list and a build beginning on this blog. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that some of the parts I ordered were coming from Hong Kong. They aren't here yet. There is also the distinct possibility that they were delivered and promptly stolen off of my porch. This has happened a couple of times recently and is kind of maddening. I mean, I don't know if the parts were not shipped or lost in transit or if they're just down at the Ashby Flea Market on some crackhead's table. Still, I don't want to order new parts if I can have the parts I ordered. The worst part is, one of the parts was the cable I need to program the Arduino. Stupid. It costs $2.50 but I think I ordered it from HK to save a couple of nickels. I have buttons in my parts bin but not fancy shiny silvery buttons of wonder. I guess as long as I had that cable I could start to prototype. Off to the internets to order another cable!

Soft Hardware - LilyPad Arduino

When I was initially becoming interested in creating with Arduino, one of the main obstacles for my mind to get motivated was being able to convince myself that I could overcome a complete lack of technical knowledge in regards to circuits and electronics. I was fairly sure I could write some cool code but wasn't sure I'd know what wire to solder to which contact and how to run power through the whole shebang. It turned out that Arduino makes that part as easy as possible too, and isn't nearly as daunting as it seems at first glance.

Reading up on Arduino, I repeatedly came across references to LilyPad Arduino and soft circuitry. I'd tried a soft circuitry project before but I gave up pretty quickly, more due to a lack of continued interest than anything else.

This was my first project:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34063023

I'd made LED throwies for a number of purposes from lighting up my bicycle to lighting up jack-o-lanterns. Making a simple bracelet seemed like a nice next step and it was, sort of. And it would have worked, in theory, if I'd finished it, which I didn't.

What appeals to me about LilyPad, other than the wear-ability of the projects was the modular design of the components. Sure, you could wire all kinds of sensors and outputs to the adorable LilyPad but you could also just stick to the sensors and outputs designed to go with the board (It's not really a board, per se. It's a felt pad.).

My mind thrills at the potential for projects using these items. Just check out all of the LilyPad stuff available from SparkFun:
LilyPad Arduino on SparkFun

Also check out these links:
LilyPad specs (pretty much the same as Duemilanove or other Arduinos)

Leah Buechley is the creator of LilyPad and just watching a video of one of her projects totally lit a fire under my brain:
Turn Signal Bike Jacket

As someone who really loves riding his bike but is definitely concerned that a human operating a large machine might accidentally (or intentionally!) harm me, this project appealed to me. But one thought led to another and in no time I was envisioning everything from Iron Man Halloween costumes to totally creepily interactive plush dolls. How cool would it be to gut a teddy bear from the store and turn it into a vocalizing, flashing red-eyed, buzzing and shaking, twitter-activated monstrosity? Answer: Very Cool.

An Homage to the Frustromantic - The 5x5 Box

I got into doing some very minor electronic tinkering, mostly involving bristlebots and LED throwies, right around the time team lowkey and Desert Taxi were working together to put on the Ghost Patrol game. I wished I had started a lot earlier since a lot of great ideas for GP went either unrealized or were less than fully fulfilled simply because I didn't have the skills to make them happen. Like many tinkerers, I became fascinated with projects based on the Arduino kits and IDE (integrated development environment). Basically, it's a simple microprocessor on an easy to use circuit board with an IDE based on c/c++ but way easier to write. I'd purchased an Arduino with the idea that the purchase would motivate me to learn to use it and to start a project. It didn't. I'm starting to see a pattern in myself. An object at rest...

I was nudged past my project inertia by a few really cool and creative projects that came across my news feed. The first, the Most Useless Machine, got me thinking about boxes whose purpose is initially unknown but which tempt the user into an interaction.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/leave_me_alone_box.html

The second points of inspiration were two projects, one I'd heard about some months back and another recently, that recreated that project. These were locked boxes that would only open at a specific set of GPS coordinates. Both of these projects used Arduino and a few fairly easy to find parts to create a truly compelling interaction with the user.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/gps-enabled_puzzle_box_opens_only_a.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/the_frustromantic_box_a_reverse_geo.html

Using these devices would force the user to triangulate a location on a map. Even if the user doesn't have experience with this kind of activity, the logic involved is not complicated and the user is compelled to work on the problem for the purpose of getting the box to do or give them something. What's in the box is almost secondary to the box itself which serves as a kind of interactive, fancy gift wrap but also as a gift itself. The experience of opening the gift is a gift.

I'd intended to simply copy the Frustromatic Box using the Arduino I already owned. Sitting on the couch one night, thinking about creating a cool wedding gift for my friends, Brian and Jenn (who I hope aren't reading this blog)(I'd wanted to recreate The Most Useless Machine for my friend, David's birthday but just didn't have the time and technical skills), an idea occurred to me. What if I could create a box that required the user to solve a deceptively simple puzzle to open the box and get the gift out? I'm pretty bad at coming up with puzzles, as anyone who worked with me on GP will attest, but this one occurred to me in a real ah-ha moment; the box would have six buttons and an LCD screen on top of it. One button would be separate from the rest and would serve as the on/initialize button. Five buttons in a row would serve as the puzzle input. All the user would have to do would be to turn the box on and then press the five buttons in a pre-determined order within a small number of attempts and with the puzzle resetting the order if the attempts failed. The interface would be easily deduced by the user and would be frustrating as well as frustratingly simple.

I drew this "technical" diagram to begin:

I surprised myself a little with how excited I was (and am!) about this project and I dove right in, trying to teach myself to program in the Arduino IDE by reading online documentation at the Arduino website and reading others' sketches from their projects. This taught me one important thing, I was in over my head. I had never programmed in any language before, not really (I'd goofed around with html and had done some stuff in basic on my C64 as a kid), and didn't understand a lot of the basics. So I ordered the Getting Started With Arduino book from the Maker Shed and most of the parts I imagined I would need.

I already had the Arduino but had failed to order the USB cable to actually upload sketches to it. I ordered the cable, the buttons and the LCD. I figured I could pick up a servo at any hobby shop when I needed it. I didn't get the LED lit buttons because they were considerably more expensive and I thought that the unlit buttons, providing less feedback, might be more mysterious.

So far, the only thing that's come in the mail is the book and yesterday I read it pretty much cover to cover twice and started to really work on my Arduino sketch.

I also know next to nothing about woodworking but I want this box to look really polished and beautiful, something you'd keep on your coffee table as a fun game even after it had been opened, something that would be a cool conversation piece. My younger brother, Dan, is a natural born, as well as highly educated and trained, engineer and I kind of just assumed he'd have these tools and this know how. Normally I'd got to Brian and Jenn for this kind of help but since this was to be their wedding gift, that wouldn't work. I'd mentioned some of my ideas to Dan a week earlier and when I emailed him for help he practically jumped at the opportunity to delve into the project with me, offering up his tools, his expertise, his time, and a copy of AutoCAD. Engineers love AutoCAD. Dan works for AutoDesk and has offered me AutoCAD to play around with before but I'd never had any need. Even now it seems silly to model a box in such a powerful program but I figure this is an opportunity to teach myself AutoCAD as well. Sure, this project may not be that complex but if its successful I could easily see myself wanting to tackle much more complex future projects.

As I work on this project, I will post more descriptions of what I'm doing, how I'm succeeding and failing and my open-source plans, schematics and Arduino sketches. I'm calling this project the 5x5 Box for a couple of reasons. One, the user will have 5 attempts to press the 5 buttons in the correct order before the device resets. Two, "five by five" in radio communications lingo means "I understand you perfectly" and that seems kind of fitting for an interactive little box that is easy to understand but (hopefully) hard to open.