For the Mechatronics class capstone project our team built an electronic puzzle box!

Device Description:

Our device will be an interactive puzzle box for a player to solve. On the top of the box will be a series of LEDs laid out in a cross shaped pattern. The puzzle box will challenge the player to balance the box about a certain axis while simultaneously turning some knobs and pressing some buttons in a proper order. Each playthrough of the box will be different, allowing players to play multiple times without repeating what they did in previous games. The purpose of this project is to update the age old concept of a puzzle box using contemporary technology.

Technology

The puzzle box will contain a triple axis gyroscope that measures rotation of the box. The box will randomly orient the z axis on each playthrough. The player will then have to tilt the box so the x and y axes, as measured by the gyroscope, will lie orthogonally to the z axis. The player will be able to see how they should tilt the box based on the LED display on the top. The LEDs will be placed in a cross shaped pattern. When the box is tilted far away from the z axis the lights at the edges of the cross will light up, but as the box is tilted closer and closer to the correct orientation the lights closer to the center of the cross will light up, until the light in the center of the cross lights up indicating that the box is positioned correctly. In addition to tilting the box, the player will also have to turn on a secondary set of lights by positioning potentiometers and pressing the right buttons. This will be randomly generated so each playthrough requires different actions. All of these actions will be controlled by a PIC microcontroller.

Components

Part Name Model Number Manufacturer Source Cost ($) Microcontroller PIC16F18446-I/P MICROCHIP Newark 2.20 Gyroscope L3GD20H Adafruit Adafruit 12.50 Potentiometers Any Any Any In kit LED Any Any Any In kit

Technical Risks:

The programming of the gyroscope is projected to be the most challenging part of this assignment. Time must be spent on finding libraries and gyroscopes that are compatible with the PIC microcontroller, and additional time must be spent learning the libraries, testing, and troubleshooting using the gyroscopes. Depending on the serial connection the gyroscope uses we may also need to learn how to configure the microcontroller to use a serial connection that we never learned in class.