spoiled gumball

Finally, the SPOILED GUMBALL

2005-12-15T21:59:00.000-08:00

JUMP for me!

2005-12-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

All-in-one box

2005-12-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Speaker Installation

2005-12-14T15:48:00.001-08:00

The two speakers we hacked the other day were actually mounted onto the left side and right side of the walls inside the stand.
We created a small gap between the speakers and the walls. That, perhaps, could prevent the sounds being absorbed or blurred out by the foam-made walls.

Wiring the soldeoids

2005-12-14T15:40:00.001-08:00

After the initial testing, we found out that wiring and soldering the solenoids inside the tube is extremely hard. It's just the problem that our fingers are too big to fit in and solder the wires to the solenoids inisde that narrow tube. So then I decided to cut the tube in half so that we could solder all the wires onto the solenoids but at the same time we would not need to make the holes too large. If the holes for solenoids are too large then they may not be able to hold the solenoids in place.

Construction 1: Solenoids Positioning

2005-12-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

We talked to Danny two weeks ago, and he suggested us to use solenoids instead of motors for blocking and releasing the gumballs. Shown in the pictures above, we were finding out the best position to place the solenoids. The best way to hold the soleniods would be making holes onto the main tube inside the gumball machine. The wires that connected to the solenoids and the main circuit board are also placed inside that tube. We taped those wires along side of the column tube, that will prevent the coins getting stuck with the wires.

More Soldering, putting them togther

2005-12-13T00:26:00.000-08:00

Soldering 2

2005-12-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

Soldering

2005-12-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

We just completed our circuit. It's time for us to solder all the components together. As mentioned early, we have 3 major boards, so we each in charge of one of them.

The final circuit

2005-12-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

So we set up 3 boards. The major function for the first board is for the PIC chip. Another one is mainly for PIEZO sensor. And the last board is for the 3 solenoids. We also got an external supply for our circuit.

Hacking the Apple's Mic

2005-11-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

We got this Apple micophone for $3 online. And then we hacked it today.

Sounds Capturing for our CD

2005-11-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

Special Thanks to Josh Dickens & Megan
With the help from Josh and Megan, we recorded over 100 phrases. At the end we choosed the best 11 to become our final gumball tracks and they will be used to interact with users. The 11 tracks are as the followings:

Track1:
Introduction: "Yum, the quarter was good. Buf if you really want some candy, you gotta play with me."
Track2:
"If you love me, jump for me."
Track 3:
"Do you call that a jump? Come on. You can do better".
Track 4:
"Good job."
Track 5:
"If you really want some candy, pet!"
Track 6:
"That's it. I need more. More. More!More!!"
Track 7:
ahh! That was good, honey-boney!"
Track 8:
"I need to hear you say it. Whisper softly into the coin return how much you love me!"
Track 9:
"Ohh baby, say it again!"
Track 10:
"Oh baby I love you!!"
Track 11:
"You are my hero! Here's your candy! Come back soon. I'll miss you."

Painting? Why r we painting?

2005-11-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

After the cutting process, we then painted the pieces into red. Red is just like our theme color this time. We bought a red gumball machine, so we just decied the color of the stand should also be red. That made a perfect match?

Building the stand

2005-11-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

Instead of buying a pre-made stand, we decied to make our own. We got two white foam cardboards. We cut them into pieces. They are sized 27" X 30". Two square-shaped holes were made for ventilation fans installation.

Speaker Hack 111705

2005-11-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

New Circuit

2005-11-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

We added more compontents to our circuit
We added relays to our circuit. FSR is also added to the same circuit. And we then connected the relays to the 4 CD player ports.
The relays will be acted as the switches to control on and off of each port of the CD player. For example, when current flow through the replay and if the replay is connected to the PLAY of the CD player, it will then play the CD.

See codes update here

Test Circuit

2005-11-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Before we really build the circuit, we decided to use potentiometers to mock up the broad. We will then add the sensors one by one.

Codes revisit with Myra

2005-11-10T15:07:00.002-08:00

We vsited the codes with Myra today.

See updated codes

CD Player: Second Hack

2005-11-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

The second hack was very successful. And we soldered wires to the 4 controls (PLAY, REW, FF, STOP).

First Hack: CD Player

2005-11-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

We hacked the first CD player. According to Todd, the CD player is a bit too "high-tech", which seems there's no way for us to hack it and connect wires on it. We ended up buying a "low-tech" CD player from one of our fellows.

Gumball 2: a stand-alone one

2005-11-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

After receiving Lara's email yesterday, Jane, Lara and I met today. We set the new design for the gumall machine. We also had a very extended discussion on many different issues, for example: the flow of the program, the 3 tasks, "the what-to-do list, and "things to do in the coming 4 weeks.

Basically, the biggest change is that we decided we are going to build a stand-alone gumball machine. That means the circuit will no longer be connected to a computer. That also means that the entire system (or the circuit) will be controlled by the PIC chip (PIC18F452). Without connecting the electronic circuit to a computer also means that we need to use external speakers and a CD player.

The followings are some of the issues we had touched upon today:

Flow of Program:

1. Crank machine → sets off machine and turns everything on
2. Machine determines degree of difficulty for obtaining the candy
3. Goes trough different tasks / sensors
4. Motor opens door to let out candy
5. Machine turns off

The Tasks

Task1 → jump/dance
1. Jump – Piezo
2. Dance – IR sensor

Task2 → Whisper
1. Microphone
2. Find out if there is better sensor?

Task3 → Pet
1. Force Sensitive Sensor
2. Qprox (not ideal)

Motor:
1. Open when Tasks are fulfilled
2. Maybe set back wheel after candy is obtained to disconnect circuit

Sound:
Hack CD-player
1. Understand how to play songs
a. How to start
b. How to stop
c. How to move around tracks
2. Record sounds
3. Install speaker

Prerequisite: Circuit is closed

- start up circuit
- sound 1 (greeting / introduction)
- pick scenario (randomly) (~5)
- start scenario
i. play sound for task1
ii. go through tasks1
iii. recognize action1
iv. error check – give sound for no action or inaccurate action
v. play ending sound1
vi. start second task
vii. go through all tasks…
viii. go to motor code
- move motor
- sound
- candy comes -Yippiyei!
- Machine turns off (Motor?)

Things to do:

- Hack CD player
-Get speaker to work
- Put up basic breadboard (start with potentiometers)
- Add sensor by sensor (Piezo, Touch, Microphone)
-Decide how to implement in machine
-Solder the board
-Put elements into machine
-DOCUMENT ALONG THE WAY
-Put together presentation
-TEST for last week
-Get gumballs
-Consider sound activated light
- Find out power requirement (get power strip, CD Adapter – 6V)
-Script out process / other complexity
-Build base / plexi

Good news: They are back

2005-11-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Hey Kaki,

So Jane and I talked things through (also wtih Todd) and we decided to come back to the gum ball machine. Are you going to do it? If you are I think we would have a great project. Let us know what you think.  Lara  Also do you have a cd player that we could take apart? Is it working?

Spoiled Gumball I

2005-10-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

The first Spoiled Gumball Team
The picture was taken right after our mid-term presentation in the physical computing class. The team includes Jane, Myra, Alice, Kaki, Lara, Paris and Demetrie.

The idea of the spoiled gumball machine is that for any user who wants to get a gumball they have to complete 3 tasks. The three tasks are (1) Jump for me, (2) Touch me, and (3) Whisper. Once the user completed the 3 tasks correctly, the spoiled gumball machine will open its gate to give out a gumball. The key components the team used include the Apple's iSight, the Q-touch sensor, two speakers, one circuitbroad with the PIC18F452 microcontroller, and a multimedia computer. The program used to control all the tasks is written in a Processing environment.