My Final Project

This is where I will start defining my final project idea and its development process.

Early steps

My little brother loves a TV show where two teams play something similar to charades. Instead of acting and guessing a word, they need to guess the name of a movie or a song. With each turn, a different member throws a big fluffy die, and depending on the number on the top, there are specific rules that need to be followed to act out the phrase.They only have 20 seconds to act and guess.

Last Christmas I wanted to give my brother a die as a present, but there weren’t many options online. So, I came up with the idea to make a die that can detect the die´s position, with a Bluetooth-connected card box that opens to reveal the film/song name according to the number in which the die landed. I can also make a timer with 8-segment displays that can be started with a button and with a small speaker playing an alarm when the time elapses.

Here is the first sketch I made for this project.

The plan is to make a Dice that can identify and communicate via Bluetooth the number on top to a 3D-printed box where the movies and song cards will be contained. Depending on the number on the die, a different compartment will open. The difficulty will vary. Small numbers will reveal cards with short and easy names, while higher numbers will contain larger names or harder words to act.

The “cube” faces will be made of Medium-Density Fiberboard. Inside, it will have an accelerometer to detect the landing face. I´ll be using a XIAOnRF52840 sense with a built-in accelerometer. I am planning to make soft-rounded corners for the cube so it can bounce once it hits the ground. As decoration, I´ll be putting LEDs on the die´s faces to run a sequence for each number.

I decided to design a mechanism to open the different compartments according to each categories. I used Procreate to sketch my initial ideas:

The box will have a Bluetooth module to communicate with the die. I might add a small speaker to play the alarm sound when the time is up. The box will have a charging port and a battery to make it portable.

Final Project Planification

Date	Activity
Jan 20 – Jan 28	Final project definition
Jan 29 - Feb 4	Logo design
Feb 10 - Feb 19	XIAO accelerometer data via Bluetooth code
Feb 26 - Mar 4	Card dispenser PCB design
Mar 12 - Mar 18	PCB milling and soldering
Mar 26 - Mar 30	DC motor with encoder programming for the Card dispenser
Mar 30 - April 1	PCB production for the stepper motor and XIAO
April 2 - April 9	Communication between the board inside the die and the card dispenser board
April 15	Die material definition
April 21 - April 29	Die creation with a mold
May 1 - May 6	Card dispenser design
May 7 – May 14	Build the Card dispenser
May 15 – May 27	Final program and fully operational game
May 28 – June 1	Final project slides and video
June 2	Final project finished
June 09 – June 13	Final project presentation

week 2

This week I made my final project´s logo using Inkscape and Procreate

Procreate

Inkscape

week 4

This week I programmed in two different programming languages the XIAOnRF52840 that is going to be inside the die to send the accelerometer data via Bluetooth.

I liked the CircuitPython version the most, which I planed on using for the final code.

week 6

I designed the PC with an ESP32 for the card dispenser

week 8

I milled the PCB I designed during week 6

week 10

I programmed one of the motors that I will be using on my card dispenser

I designed a small PCB for the stepper motor I´ll be using, and an extra PCB for the XIAO.

Here is the schematic for the stepper motor PCB

And here is the XIAO PCB

Here is the schematic for the XIAO PCB

Files

• Download the XIAO PCB design files
• Download the Stepper motor PCB design files

week 11

I sent the XIAOnRF52840´s accelerometer data via bluetooth to the ESP32

I changed my mind on how I will be making the card, dispenser. One of my friends at the Fab gave me the idea of making the dispenser like a Carousel, where a motor turns the card stacks form each categories, and with another motor push the correct card stack out, so the players can pick the card.

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