After being reminded that this blog exists after a previous post that I
had post-dated years in the future posted, I thought I give blogging
another go.
A few months ago, I picked up an Arduino kit since I needed an Arduino microcontroller as a bootloader in order to upgrade the firmware on my 3d printer. Anyways, during the COVID-19 lockdown, looked at my Arduino kit, and thought to myself that I could use the ultrasonic distance sensor and integrate that into an electronic sentry for a future game...
So I took out the Arduino and created a simple circuit with an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor and an RGB LED light for output, and adapted the code from Sparkfun such that a measured distance of less than 20cm would light up the LED as red, more than 20cm but less than 40cm as yellow, and more than 40cm as green.
 | ||
| So the Light Tank, M3 that I had hanging around after 3d printing successfully tripped the sensor at 15cm. |
The Light Tank, M3 reliably tripped the sensor when full on, and broadside aspect, but did so unreliably when angled 45 degrees to the sensor.
 |
| Success |
Next, I tried with a kneeling GI with M1 Carbine (I believe that the
model is Old Glory 28). At first it looked like I had success since
the light was green... but as soon as I removed my hand, it was for naught and the light went green.
 |
| The green light of failure. |
Nonetheless, I think this is a valid proof of concept for a sentry in a pillbox for a raid scenario. Net step will be adapting a pillbox from thingivers to handle the wiring, or failing that, sketch one out on tinkercad. It's slightly disapointing that a single 28mm model won't reliably trip the sensor, the fact that 28mm models don't move by themselves and need a hand to move is sufficient by itself to make a useful gaming peice.
As for why use an Arduino and an ultrasonic sensor when a measuring tape will give the same information? 1) It's possible, 2) it looks cool, and 3) I think this makes the tabletop game more immersive for the player.
Hopefully the next blogpost won't be written multiple years and a degree ago.
