Project Logs

Collapse

• Final log. All done and ready to go!!!

  hexum064 • 08/09/2023 at 03:50 • 0 comments

  We did it!

  We have 99 badges (and one bad one).

  See you at the con!

• Preview, Preview, Preview

  hexum064 • 06/27/2023 at 17:59 • 0 comments

  The proto boards are on their way! Here are a few pics.

  Hope that the copper is more of a pink-ish color than the orange-ish color in the pics and that it's just the camera. 

  Anyways, here's also a sneak preview of the "chumbles" for the back of the badge. The color will be corrected.

  I had no idea they make such great head accessories. Might have to wear one too! (Thanks @pinguino !)

• The protos are coming

  hexum064 • 06/07/2023 at 17:59 • 0 comments

  Ya, they're just Kicad renders but I think they look good. Couldn't really find a place with a pink-ish solder mask so we'll see how OSP copper looks. It's held up pretty well on some test pieces floating around my desk. 

  They are being manufactured so hopefully I can share picks of the real things soon (and just maybe they will work too).

  Oh and here's a pick of the SAO you can win if you figure out the puzzle/easeregg:

  It adds functionality to the badge! But that's all I'm saying for now.

• It's starting to come together!!!

  hexum064 • 05/29/2023 at 03:54 • 0 comments

  No pic but progress none the less.

  Primary programming complete (including the puzzle with prize).

  Boards designed.

  Prototypes being manufactured.

  If those all go good (fingers crossed), we just have some molds to make and lanyards to order!

• It's Functional!

  hexum064 • 04/29/2023 at 21:33 • 0 comments

  Got all of the functional code working for all the peripherals. Most of the parts on here are what will be used. Only thing left to test is the power supply.

  But now is the painful part: cleaning up the code without breaking anything before finishing the game modes and light patterns.

  it's verking!

  (Note: The OLED screen is just for testing/debugging. Sry, no screen for the actual badge)

• Let's see what AllPCB can do

  hexum064 • 04/25/2023 at 20:53 • 0 comments

  Let's see how well AllPCB can assemble this:

• Who would have thought choosing a button would be so difficult

  hexum064 • 04/19/2023 at 17:29 • 0 comments

  The Floob will have 4 "buttons". Originally, I figured we'd just go with capacitive touch pads. This turned out to be not so great as it was too easy to trigger the wrong button, both from the proximity to the other pads and the traces leading to the pads. Tried a few different configurations and sensitivities but nothing felt acceptable.

  We worked to find some tactile push buttons that were big in diameter but not very tall. That would be our fallback because it would really detract from the look of the Floob.

  We also considered tactile dome switches. The problem with those is assembly: we did not want to be the ones to tape down the little domes (also, would the tape look ok?). Well, as it turns out, the PCB manufacturer that I am looking at right now said they can do dome switch assembly (hope they use some nice, clear tape). 

  This feels like a really good solution then: they can be assembled for us, they don't detract from the look, they give a tactile response, and best of all, they are super simple with no extra components needed to work (and almost no chance for false activation). Not to mention, they are pretty robust and easy to repair with some packing tape.

  Here is a pic using just packing tape to hold them in place. They are not functional but they do provide a good sense of feel and look.

• Testing, Testing

  hexum064 • 04/07/2023 at 05:51 • 0 comments

  Buttons, dingle bops, and tiny hands. Oh my!

  Also got the nyan music working in code!

• Capacitive Madness

  hexum064 • 03/27/2023 at 18:30 • 0 comments

  Did a prototype to test a few things like the capacitive touch sensor, an I2C I/O port extender, and the layout of the hall effect sensors.

  Results?

  A single-chip cap touch sensor ain't gonna work. Even with adjustments to the sensitivity, too many false positives.

  More prototypes to come. And maybe some molds of things more 3 dimensional. 

• Still having chip issues. WTF Microchip

  hexum064 • 03/23/2023 at 01:51 • 0 comments

  Why is it impossible to find xmega32e5s? And why is the only type of xmega16e5 in a qfn package... So it appears that the chip shortage is not yet over for Microchip. But that's not going to stop me. Prototyping and programming are on the way. I'll post the proposed functionality of the badge in a few day.

View all 10 project logs