Trivia: Previously ZeroBall ran from a Raspberry Pi A+. With the new PiZero W I thought it would be perfect to pair with the NexDock. The NexDock has Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad and the PiZero W now has Bluetooth, so can be paired to the keyboard easily. Making a nice compact solution.
On with the actual blog post.
For the recent Egham Raspberry Jam that I organised the theme was Gamification.
I already posted about sensecave a Raspberry Pi Sense Hat game but I wanted to do something a bit more physical and real world.
That got me thinking about Fairgrounds and the kinds of games you play there.
The final decision was a ball throwing game. Get the ball in the cups and you get points. For those who watch US teen movies the principle is similar to beer pong, but without the beer and with points and scores….
Next exercise was to figure out how to detect a ping pong ball going into a cup.
I spent a lovely afternoon trying out PIR (Passive Infrared Sensor) sensors at HackWimbledon. If you’re near Wimbledon in the UK check them out. Great bunch of people and the events are every 2 weeks on a Saturday.
After an enjoyable day I figured out the PIR sensors are great for detecting movement of animals including people, but no use for my requirement as they even tripped if the ball passed over the cup since the amount of infra-red light changed. Tweeted when it failed. Luckily there was still a month to the Jam.
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Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!e!