As part of Ohio State’s annual Make-a-thon event held each February, students gather in teams of up to four students to compete and build a deliverable in less than 24 hours. For a week, I desperately tried to find a team to work with for the event to no avail. However, the night before the registration deadline, I connected with a former peer in an old software course, and with that, we were registered. We were significantly disadvantaged as a result of only having two members on the team, but we were determined to give this event our all and build something we would be proud to show to employers.
When we arrived early in the morning, we got straight to work brainstorming ideas for what we even wanted to make. At first, we settled on a speech recognition device, but quickly realized that we would not succeed with the provided equipment for the event. This caused us to change course, leading us to the world of video games. I am extremely passionate about video games and as such we decided to craft an addicting minigame accessible to blind people.
The game was created using the Arduino and associated libraries. We split the tasks of coding the game logic and wiring the circuitry. A predetermined maze was coded, along with player move commands and sensory information. We found a small box that was the perfect size for the game, snugly fitting all the components inside while being comfortable to hold. As such, this box became the controller, and the display mechanisms were on the top. We decided to use a speaker to play a sound whenever the player moved using the joystick. The object of the game was to get through the maze, only you could not see it. The sound got louder or softer depending the distance the player currently was from the goal. Additionally, an LED light was temporarily installed to indicate if a player was hitting a wall. Given more time and materials, this could have been substituted for a vibration feature, allowing the game to be played completely blind. If the player was victorious, a series of sounds resembling R2D2’s whistle played.
Despite the simple concept, the game attracted many players at the end of the event, but only one judge, the representative from Texas Instruments, was diligent and committed enough to solve the puzzle. He was quite impressed with the final product!
Attached below are some pictures taken at the event, close to the completion of the project:
