As an Electronic Engineering student with a passion for Music Technology Systems, I've always been fascinated by the synergy between music and technology. This intersection is not just a field of study for me; it's a realm where creativity and innovation converge to create extraordinary experiences.
The Potential Divider is a compact and affordable interactive audio/music games console designed primarily for schoolchildren aged 8-14, including those with visual impairments. Our team aimed to create an engaging, educational, and accessible gaming experience using cost-effective hardware and innovative software solutions.
The console utilizes an STM Nucleo-G071RB Development Board, a 16x2 LCD screen, two push buttons, and four potentiometers. All these components are built on a single PCB to minimize costs and enhance repairability. The software, developed using Purr Data (PD), generates high-quality audio output, providing an immersive gaming experience. The included game, Dungeonikon, is an audio-guided RPG that caters to both sighted and visually impaired users, ensuring inclusivity through voice-over descriptions and interactive sound effects.
Our primary goal was to create a cost-effective gaming console that is affordable for families and educational institutions. We focused on designing games that promote cognitive development through interactive play and ensuring the console is user-friendly for visually impaired children by incorporating tactile controls and audio feedback.
Our console is designed for schoolchildren, particularly those in school years 3-9. We also prioritized accessibility features for visually impaired users, recognizing the lack of affordable gaming options for this group in the mainstream market.
To promote the Potential Divider, we plan to partner with schools and educational institutions and demonstrate the console at educational fairs. We will highlight the console's educational benefits and cognitive development through interactive play.
The development of the Potential Divider involved creating a user-friendly and durable interface that integrates the LCD screen and input controls. Our software development focused on creating engaging and educational game code for the Nucleo-G071RB microcontroller. The audio integration, using PD, enhances the gaming experience with high-quality sound and interactive audio feedback. We developed a seamless communication interface between the program code and PD, ensuring synchronized audio and game logic. The project leadership coordinated tasks, managed timelines, and supported team members to ensure the project's success.
The console's primary processing power comes from the STM Nucleo-G071RB microcontroller, chosen for its balance of performance and cost. The display component is a 16x2 LCD screen, which is simple and suitable for displaying ASCII characters. Audio generation and processing are handled by PD, which ensures high-quality sound output. To enhance user interaction while keeping production costs low, the console incorporates two buttons and four potentiometers as input methods. These controls provide an elevated level of user interaction and game control, ensuring an engaging and interactive experience for the players.
Purr Data (PD) was employed as the audio engine for the console due to its extensive functionality and flexibility. The Nucleo microcontroller communicates with PD via the serial bus using the 'Comport' object, which categorizes numbers received into predefined categories to control audio parameters precisely. This integration ensures seamless communication between hardware and software components, providing a sophisticated and user-centric design approach. By leveraging PD's versatile capabilities, the console delivers high-quality audio output and an engaging interactive experience.
The project adhered closely to the original specifications, achieving the goal of creating a small, portable gaming unit accessible to visually impaired users. The Potential Divider integrates essential features like the LCD screen and tactile controls in a user-friendly layout, ensuring ease of use and engagement. Our design of Dungeonikon, an audio-guided RPG, was meticulously followed, resulting in a game that provides a rich and immersive auditory experience. The spoken RPG format effectively caters to visually impaired players, allowing them to engage fully with the game's content through audio cues and instructions.
To enhance the Potential Divider, we plan to integrate a Raspberry Pi Compute Module to eliminate the need for an external computer, making the console more self-contained. Developing a custom PCB will further reduce assembly complexity and improve the design. We also aim to explore multiplayer functionality and seamless game development capabilities. These advancements will significantly enhance the console's capabilities while maintaining its affordability and accessibility.
The Potential Divider project showcases our commitment to creating innovative and inclusive gaming solutions. Through effective teamwork and creative problem-solving, we have developed a console that balances affordability, accessibility, and educational value. We look forward to continuing to refine and expand the Potential Divider to benefit a wider audience, ensuring it remains a valuable and engaging tool for educational and recreational use.