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Glasgow Science Centre Controller |
My client approached me to help them create a specialised audio-visual enabled controller for an exhibit in the Glasgow Science Centre. With a fairly loose brief to go on, I implemented a device that would allow flexibility and on-site user programmability without limiting functionality. All the end user has to do is edit a simple text file, and the machine does exactly what it is required to do.
The machine, for which my client created all of the exciting physical aspects, is intended to make donating to the Centre a 'fun activity'. Thus, the public get some amusement and the Centre gets some much-needed additional funding. Encompassing a representation of parts of the human body, coins inserted into the machine travel along tracks, triggering events as they pass sensors embedded in the trackway. These events involve the activation of compressed air jets, motors, lamps and other electrical devices, as well as the triggering of sounds and videos on three separate monitors (all of which were required to operate independently, possibly showing different videos simulteneously at any one time).
With less than twenty days to implement the entire controller and a very limited budget with which to work, my client was looking for a very special solution. Previously suggested solutions from other sources had suggested the use of a PC based control system with several months of effort required; not only would that be non-viable within the bounds of this project, but the budget simply would not stretch that far.
The final controller comprised the following elements:
- A central control system employing a Parallax Propeller 8-core MCU
- Three individual video boards, one per channel
- An MP3 audio playback system
- A filesystem employing standard, PC-editable SD cards
- User-configurable functionality
- All associated support electronics
- A custom enclosure with panels CNC-machined in my own facility
- 18 digital inputs
- 18 relay outputs for control of external devices
The final result is something that my client was extremely happy with and something that I can feel proud of. |
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