Problem:

We sought out to create a way to communicate with those you have a competitive relationship with, over long distances. 

Solution:

A little friendly competition never hurt anyone. Our solution is to have two buttons. The goal is to keep the button in the off position where it is pushed down. When a person presses their button down, the other person’s button pops up. The other person has to push it down and return their button to the off position as soon as possible. This lets users (friends, uber-competitive siblings, arch nemeses, etc…) stay in touch in a fun way that keeps their competitive sides alive.

Storyboard:

How it Works:

We created an IoT device that consists of two identical buttons, button A and button B. Each button is equipped with a push sensor, solenoid, and LED. When button A is pushed, the solenoid is pulled down (which keeps the button low), the LED is turned off, and a message is published to the mesh network. Button B is subscribed to listen to button A, so when it receives a message, button B pops up with the solenoid and turns its LED on. Button A can also listen for when B is pressed. 

Bill of Parts:

• Particle Argon
• Resistor x 2
• Push Button Sensor x 2
• Solenoids x 2
• Mosfet x 2
• 12 V power source x 2
• Button x 2
• 4x4 box

Process Photos:

Schematic:

Challenges:

While building the Popup Box, we ran into a few challenges.

We tried using an arcade button to detect when the button was pressed, but it was hard to get the button to press down on the correct part of the arcade button with the solenoid in the way. We ended up switching to a push button because it was more sensitive to pressure and was smaller.

At first, our solenoids were going up and down very weakly. After troubleshooting, we realized this was because we 9V was not enough power. We swapped these out for 12V batteries and used those instead.