Kicking around an idea for an RCX buzzer system...thoughts?

[Billfred]

You know, once I reread my post after reading yours, I realized just how little sense things make when they leave my head.

The lights/motors are to signal that that person/team buzzed. (I'd probably add a beep as well, but that would make too much sense.) The pseudocode should (if I'm thinking right!) lock out the other sensor in the code...hence the buzzerstatus=0 or 1 thing.

[Astronouth7303]

LCD display. Display the ID of the buzzer.

[Billfred]

For most buzzer systems, that'd be a good thing. But given that I'm only going to have two buzzers working, it kinda feels like overkill. I think a beep and a light/motor will easily handle the needs of the judge to know who buzzed first (assuming the judge has some sense in him/her/it).

[Andrew Rudolph]

you could also just have the sensor do nothing in the software...if you dont have any lego lamps you could just connect a light sensor to a motor output and it will light up. Or just cut a lego wire and attach it to a regular lamp. I think the voltage is 9, not sure on the amperage or anything like that but you can find it all out using a voltmeter/ammeter.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Andrew Rudolph

you could also just have the sensor do nothing in the software...if you dont have any lego lamps you could just connect a light sensor to a motor output and it will light up. Or just cut a lego wire and attach it to a regular lamp. I think the voltage is 9, not sure on the amperage or anything like that but you can find it all out using a voltmeter/ammeter.

Given the cost of a Lego wire, I think you'd have a very small group who'd consider that...and most of their names would likely rhyme with Hill Mates.

Besides, what's the fun in using legos if you aren't gonna use legos? (grin)

[Billfred]

Well, a bit over a year later, I've done it.

My camp did Jeopardy night, and I created the buzzer system with one RCX, three touch sensors (three teams), a remote, and lots of motor wire. (The extra sensor and the long motor wires were lifted from other kits.)

Here's how we did it: at the start of the program, the display read 1293. (I needed a number, so I just put the first one that came to mind.) When a sensor was pressed, it checked a variable. If it was 0, the variable changes to one and changes the screen to read that buzzer number. If the sensor is one, it does nothing. When the remote sends a message of 1, the variable goes to zero and the display goes back to 1293.

It worked flawlessly--although the switches and longer wires wouldn't hurt if you were making something more polished.