MSRaynsford

Another build for 'From Shadows', this time they wanted a device that could be used to track down other devices scattered around the field. I came up with a solution that used the ESP8266 to create a wifi network (nodes not shown) and these gadgets that scanned for wifi networks and reported the RSSI. The closer you are the stronger the signal strength and you know you're heading in the right direction. The gadgets were supposed to have a modern mystical feel so I made them from fluorescent perspex, the sheet was sprayed with black and the details cut through. The whole front panel was lit from behind with UV led's so the glow only shone through the cuts. I also felt it would be good if the gadgets had to be held in both hands, under the thumb prints are two tactile switches which need to be firmly pressed to keep the device on. I think this might have caused a bit of thumb ache from the players while they were initially looking for the nodes, it certainly ma...

I delved into the realms of a Cyberpunk LRP system this weekend just gone. It was good fun and there was lots of opportunity to make techy objects for the game. This game featured airsoft weaponry so strength is another issue to consider The first item is a shield unit, energy shields take an hour to recharge once they've served their purpose. This unit times the hour for you, leaving one less thing to remember while you're running around doing everything else. The unit is made from a mixture of acrylic and wood, the whole thing has been vacuum formed with a sheet of HIPS plastic to make it waterproof and robust to being shot. A large clip on the reverse makes it easy to attach to other pieces of kit (quite a lot of people wore military gear with lots of webbing/straps). The lower silver panel is actually a push button, it was intended to require a firm squeeze to operate to prevent it from being triggered accidentally.  A rotating ring of blue LED's shows ...

I took these strandbeest kits to EMF camp , I blogged about them coming soon  and I've been selling them at craft fairs and on my webstore . I just realised that I've never explicitly stated that they're available now. Get there while there is lots of time for Christmas, rather than two weeks before and we're all left hoping the postal service does it's job. The kit features the ESP8266 micro controller so it's a great little project for learning about those. The device starts it's own wifi network and then serves up a webpage to your browser which you can use to steer the walker around. It's open source software so you can modify it as you require, but the Wemos D1 is supplied, tested and programmed, so even if you don't know anything about software you can make it work. If you've already got a plastic kit then you can purchase the electronics on their own as an upgrade.

In the near future I'm going to be doing a few more cyberpunk events so while it's probably a neon dystopia these things all share the same issues. Techno gadgets need to glow/flash/move or other things for a whole weekend in a place where access to electricity may be limited and changing batteries round all the time can be a pain. I've recently picked up several of these USB powerbanks from Poundland  (worth noting that they are £2). The teardown review was relatively positive so I thought it was worth a try. The first blinky LED project I've got running on it has currently been going for 48 hours non stop so I've made the decision to build one of these into the project rather than AA batteries (project details in due course). It's always worth designing with low power in mind and there are a whole bunch of tricks you can do to reduce the power consumption but I'm looking forward to getting these into projects.