Introduction: Boston College Freshman Dorm Sorter

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Imagine if your fate as a Boston College freshman was decided by a wooden box! Using a Bluefruit, its accelerometer, a servo, LED lights and sounds, an incoming freshman can get placed into a random dorm, much like new Hogwarts students get randomly placed into different houses.


Link to project demonstration: https://youtube.com/shorts/SXOCXhU_dCc?feature=share

Supplies

Electronics Used:

  • CircuitPython Bluefruit microcontroller (Accelerometer and Neopixels)
  • TowerPro SG92R Micro Servo
  • Strip of LED Lights (30)
  • Battery Pack containing AAA batteries

Materials:

  • 1/4 Baltic Birch Wood

Tools and Consumables:

  • Trotec Laser Cutter
  • Scissors
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Clear Tape
  • Audacity Application (mac)

Step 1: Coding

I used Mu Editor to code my project. You can download my code right here. Once the code was completed, I was able to build around the hardware that powered my project.

Attachments

Step 2: Audacity - Record Audio Files

The second part of my project included me recording audio files through the computer app called Audacity. After these were recorded, I used an amplify effect to make them louder so they could be heard through my microcontroller. After the files were amplified to my liking, I exported them as .wav files to my computer so the play_sound function would work as intended. I added a sound to play for each freshman dorm.


NOTE: You do not need to record your own audio files for this project. You may use other sounds from the internet as long as they are .wav files!

Attachments

Step 3: Laser Cutting

The third step in my process was using the ElectronicsBox.svg file from boxes.py to program the laser cutter to cut my box exactly how I wanted it to. After that, I used Adobe Illustrator to make the .svg file compatible with the laser cutter that we have in the makerspace (stroke = 0.01mm, red = cut, black = engrave). Finally, cutting the box was really easy because the laser cutter essentially did all of the work for me.

Step 4: Assembling

After I cut the box, I had to glue it together. I glued everything together except for the top piece as I needed access to my electronics if anything was being faulty. After I had glued the box together (without the top), I put my electronics in the box and then had the LED lights run out of a hole in my box and around the entire outside of the box - which I then taped them down. Then, I taped my servo to the top piece where I needed it to be so the angles were correct. Finally, I taped the top piece to the rest of the box, and now everything is stabilized and works properly.