Box o' Surprises

Inspiration

Our inspiration for this project actually came from our friend's experience visiting Nona in Puerto Rico last year. She said she was tired of the same old birthday cards and other typical festivities. We decided to make something new that made it obvious how much we cared.

What it does

Our project is a comically over-designed machine that detects if someone is within 6 inches of it, and if they are it slowly drags out a piece of paper that says “Happy Birthday!”. It’s more so meant as a gag for someone whose birthday it is.

How we built it

We used an HCSRO4 ultrasonic sensor to detect when the target (birthday person) is within 6 inches of the box, which causes a 5v motor to spin a shaft to lift the birthday message. This is all done through the use of a ESP32 DevKit1. We used ArduinoIDE for this project, integrating the AccelStepper library for utilities involving the motor.

Challenges we ran into

We originally had hoped to create a project around the camera module, but had immense difficulty due to a lack of prior knowledge and experience using such equipment. We also had difficulty woodworking due to the closure of various stations later in the night.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

In spite of all the obstacles (technical, mental, physical, and emotional), we managed to make a project that works and that we found humorous. We also learned a lot about the various electrical components, hardware, and software involved in the making of this project.

What we learned

Like I said in the previous section, we learned a lot about the various electrical components, hardware, and software involved in the making of this project. We also learned a lot about each other, like what we're good at and what we struggle with. No matter what, we were always there for one another.

What's next for Box o' Surprises

We found this Hackathon to be a profound bonding experience, not only in the joint struggle but also in our sense of humor and innovation. In the future, we hope to make more lighthearted projects and maybe even make a more complex project that does brings about joy in a more comprehensive way, such as an online interactive service.

Built With

• arduinoide
• circuitry
• esp32
• stepmotor
• ultrasonicsensor
• wood