Mouse Game
Exhibited
Dyson School of Design Engineering, Open House 2019
The Mouse is a software/hardware game that consists of a screen and a massive mouse. The goal is to move a file into the bin located on the opposite side of the screen. The mouse runs away from the player’s hand when they try to move it. I designed the mechanics and electronics of the mouse which runs on an Arduino and the game that runs on a Raspberry Pi. The two devices communicate over bluetooth.
The Screen
The screen is built from laser-cut plywood and has a Raspberry Pi 3 with a screen attached to it. The Raspberry runs a game file developed using PyGame. When the player starts the game, the Raspberry instructs the Mouse initiate 'avoid' mode to start running away from the player's hand. When the player finally catches the Mouse, it instructs the Raspberry to show the file on the screen that the player has to delete.
The Mouse
Array of IR sensors is used to detect the position of the player’s hand. The mouse moves on four omni directional wheels positioned at 90 degree angles relative to each other, allowing for quick evasion without the necessity for turning. Two DC motors are used, each powering a set of two parallel wheels. A capacitive surface on top switches the motors of when the mouse is caught so the player can move it. It uses an optical sensor from an actual PC mouse to locate itself in two dimensions and communicates with the screen over bluetooth.
For a more detailed description please see the full technical report available here.
For a more detailed description please see the full technical report available here.
