
Home Automation using Smartphone
This project will show you how to automate your home using your Smartphone.
You must have played Air Hockey! Pay few $$dollars$$ to the gaming zone and just start scoring goals to beat your friends. Isn’t it very addictive? You must have thought of keeping one table at home, but hey! ever thought of making it yourself?
We will be making our own automated DIY magnetic table hockey. We will add a micro-controller, obstacle detection sensors to count goals and keep track of time. No need to keep track of goals, the sensors and evive will do it while we enjoy playing and concentrating on the ball. RGB LEDs add vibrant colors to this cool DIY creation.
Image | Component | Quantity | Available in Kit |
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![]() | evive | 1 | |
![]() | IR Sensor | 1 | |
![]() | Multi Colour RGB Lights | 1-2 Meter |
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![]() | Female to Female Jumper Cable 20cm | 40 | |
![]() | Male to Male Jumper Cable 20cm | 20 | |
![]() | Thick Cardboard | 1 Sq meter |
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![]() | Colour Chart Paper | 3 |
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![]() | Glue Gun and Glue Sticks | 1 |
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![]() | Magnets | 10-15 |
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We need to cut out following pieces from thick cardboard
Now we will make slots in the Two Shorter Side Mounts from which we can insert the playing handles with a magnet strongly glued on one end (we will make this handle later)
We will use a hard cardboard sheet of size 35cm X 38cm, which should be very flat and should not deform or compress very easily. But first make the frame using the above thick cardboard and then re-check for suitable dimensions, where you can place the Arena Bed on top of Two supports and Middle support as sometimes you end up with different arrangement/placement after gluing with Glue Gun.
So now our frame and arena are ready. We covered the Arena Bed with thick green colored paper.
Now we need to make slots for goal posts and a slider to get out the ball after the goal is scored. Be careful to take measurements from the frame which we have just made as little bit variation will always be there. We will cut following cardboard pieces:
Who wants to note down goal score? We will make it automated using basic IR sensors and a micro-controller. We have to mount two IR sensors on the inner side of Goal Post Top Covers near the edge (leave some space from the edge). We will have to bend the BLACK and TRANSPARENT LEDs on the sensor to point it vertically (as shown in image). Please check that ball should easily roll out without touching the sensor.
Now we will use evive menu which can be downloaded from here. Navigate to Pin State Monitor menu option and we will be using this to calibrate our sensors. The ball will pass from the Slider Sheet after a goal is scored. There is a small potentiometer on the sensor which needs to be calibrated to detect the ball. Our ball is dark reddish colored, so we have stick white paper on Slider Sheet to differentiate. Turn the potentiometer at one end and then slowly turn it while testing detection of ball passing.
You can skip this step and programming one, if you don’t want to add timers and sensors to count the goals.
Now we will make four isosceles right angular triangles of cardboard with sides 7cm X 7cm for strikers. You can try what size you want to make. Two triangular cutouts will be glued on top of each other after placing a neodymium magnet in the middle. [We added a third piece on top of two as the ball was going over the top it]
Also, we will make two sticks with magnetic tip to control the striker from below the Arena Bed. A very strong Neodymium magnet has been glued on the tip of stick. Later we covered the stick with thick red and blue colored paper.
This stick will drag the striker kept on top of Arena via magnetic force.
We stick red and blue colors on the two sides and drawn half line and marked a rectangular field near goal posts on both the sides. Ball will be placed inside this at the start of every game.
Enjoyed playing games with your friends during late night hangouts? Its really fun. There comes RGB LEDs. We put 12V RGB lights give amazing feeling with switched off room lighting. On all the sides, we had pasted the LED strip which were controlled by evive’s inbuilt motor driver using 3 channels. Organize the wires or LED strip and sensors and bring it carefully outside the frame near the Top Goal Post Cover.
We need to connect the following things to evive:
Now, its time to program. There are six things:
Shown above is the final algorithm for the game.
The program can be made in PictoBlox kids love graphical programming) or Arduino.
PictoBlox is a free programming language where you can create your own innovative and interactive projects, stories, games, and animations.
Click here if you want to learn more about PictoBlox.
Upload the following code to evive:
All the blocks are integrated into the main code that follows the flow chart shown in the previous step.
With this, your DIY Magnetic Table Hockey is ready! Enjoy!
As the day of launch is drawing near, the excitement is rising exponentially! We cannot wait to share the cool stuff that we’ve put together especially for you! To know more about it stay updated on the same, visit HERE!
Description | Circuit Diagram |
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This diagram shows how to interface IR sensors and LED strip with evive. | ![]() |
Description | Download Code |
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Code for Magnetic Hockey | Download |
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