LasPool

Detail of the laser
Detail of the controllers
Inside the box
Setup of the game
Strategy of a 2-players game

Inspiration

Tired of going out and enjoying a nice evening staring at your Instagram-addicted friends while they check the latest IG stories? Then you are on our team! We have designed a new multiplayer game inspired in pool that uses laser technology and some smartphones (so your friends won't be able to keep instagramming as long as you are playing!).

What it does

The game starts with player 1 at the controller. Using the joystick, he/she can aim with the laser and shoot with the yellow button. The board contains some obstacles (angry cups in the pictures) and a light-detecting can. The goal of the game is to send the light ray into the can. This is a multiplayer game, so player 1 will need the rest of players to help with their smartphones: by placing them right into the laser trajectory they can reflect it. This way, it is possible to overcome the obstacles and bring light to the can. If they do this, they will hear a celebration music and see the blue light of winners! Hooray!

There is also some pressure for the players: the laser button can only be pressed for a cumulative maximum of 10 seconds. If they exhaust this time, they will hear an upsetting sound and red lights will inform them that they lost :(

How we built it

We used Arduino to: (i) control the laser via joystick and button, (ii) measure light inside the can and decide if the players win or not yet, and (iii) automatically set reference values for positions and light intensities at the start of each game. We combined digital and analog electronics. Also, all the structures are recycled materials!! #SaveThePlanet

Challenges we ran into

The main challenges were to properly control the position of the laser with the joystick and designing the algorithm for light measurement. It was also quite hard to ensemble all the components inside the box.