Building The Controller

Today I decided I would make up the the controller for my project. Controller you ask? I have changed my original idea of making a switchboard to instead creating a controller. The main reason being that the switchboard was intended for use with pressure sensors and since that failed to happen due to time constraints, it seemed silly to continue with this idea. I thought that a controller would be better suited. The panda is a tye of experiment that was intended for human control upon its completion. So it makes sense to have a portable controller that can be used to manipulate it.

After playing around with the little switches I got from Mindkits I decided that it would be best to change from these smaller ones to bigger ones. 1) They mount onto the breadboard which I want to be on the inside of my controller and 2) They are all the same. I wanted 3 different switches that 1 from each set of 3 would initiate some reaction (animation) from the panda. I took a trip down to my local Dick Smiths, bought myself some new stuff. Managed to get some sweet silver switches for only $2 each, pretty sure they are worth $6 each. EDIT: they were worth $7! For the controller box I am using a empty container box I found in Dick Smiths. I was going to build one myself from wood or something but that tends to take way to much time. Cutting out, measuring, painting etc. So not into doing that, and this looks much more solid and more in keeping with my story as it is properly engineered rather than looking like something from a kids homework project.

THE PLAN:

Plan is to have the box hold my arduino etc. Will cut out a slot for the usb port in one of the sides to achieve this. Then on the top will be a series of 9 switches however only 3 of these will do something. It's a bit of a game, find the sweet spot to make the panda happy. Hit the wrong switch and well, you'll get a different result. For these "wrong" switches I have decided that one will put him to sleep, the other will bring more discomfort to him.