Final Project Proposal

Title: How to control an LED Robot

Background Questions:
a. What do I want to do with this new acquired physical computing knowledge?
b. How technical do I want to get?
c. How can I combine the multiple elements that interest me into one single massive project?
d. Are these items really necessary for me, or will they help society somehow?

Project Concept:
Control a character displayed in an LED panel by using a joystic.

Concept Research:
Domains: Interactive/Computation/Visual

Summary:
The user will interact with the LED display by using a joystic. Depending on the direction in which he moves the joystic, the LEDs will turn on or off and cause a simulation of movement.

Technicality:
The project consists of an LED display panel which portrays a robot. The idea is for the user to be able to control the robot's basic movements (left, right, up, down) with a joystic. The way this is going to work is by programming certain LED blinking patterns into a pic chip, which are going to be activated depending on the movement of the joystic. For example: if the user wants the robot to walk left, he would move the joystic to the left for as long as he want.

The main idea that needs to be accomplished is the fact that the user feels he/she is in control of the robot in a specific environment. The path in which the robot will walk can have certain obstacles, for which the user will need to control the character in specific ways. Let's say there's a block in the middle of the road. The user would need to move the joystick up, in order to make the robot jump the block and walk forward. This would help the user to feel more in control, while at the same time providing fun and entertainment to the user. Picture this as an interactive mini-game experience.

Electronics:
These are the main electronic components needed for this project (this list will probably change and grow as the weeks go by).

a. Multicolored LEDs (200+)
b. Joystick (1)
c. Breadboard (2+)
d. PIC or BS2 (3+)
e. Shift Registers (10+)
d. Other electronic components such as cables, soldering equipment, and batteriest

Most of these products can be acquired on mouser.com

Precedents:
Although this project resembles most of the classic Arcades and Video Games from the early videogame era, here are some of the precedents that somehow inspired me to create this project.

Super Mario Bros, produced by Nintendo in 1985.
The main character is always positioned in the middle of the screen. Depending on the directional pad, the character will react in a certain way, and the background will change, while triggering certain events. This type of game is called a side-scrolling game.

The Disco Bar, by David Worden.
Implemented a set of 128 RGB LED's, 250 feet of cable, and a computer controlled environment to the top of a bar table. The result is a beautiful display of preprogrammed imagery.