A proper electric fencing scoring system is expensive. A solution which keeps score and time even more so. The electrics use soldered in LEDs and 7-segment displays as outputs and a three pronged system to interface with the fencers' swords, guard and/or lame (depending on sword type). There's also a remote control for the referee.
It turns out, a good way of cost reduction for a solution like this is to use the commonly available and flexible devices we use / carry around with us everyday, namely: a monitor to display scores, indicator lights, names, team banners and more; and a mobile phone to control it all.
The inclusion of Processing on a Raspberry Pi allows the building of full screen graphical programs in Java and the ability to communicate over wifi with MQTT. The capability of a Raspbery Pi Zero W also lets it host its own access point and Mosquitto MQTT broker all for a cheap price. Combining all that with these spare part connectors and Processing's PI GPIO capabilities all of the components are there for a £20 system which can interface with the equipment to score correctly, contain all the display features (names, teams, etc...) of a high-level system and be completely configureable over its own access point.
Introduce Google's Flutter and we have an elegant way of creating a mobile app which can perform this configuration with its own MQTT capabilites, and works on both IOS and android. This includes zero added cost thanks to the use of a referee's personal mobile device.
Even further to that (Although I have not yet implemented the following features) the broadcasting of MQTT messages when a hit is scored allows for cheap wifi-enabled modules like the ESP8266-01 to receive prompts to trigger GPIO when different events occur, this allows a full set of peripherals such as mask/floor-mounted LEDs (like in the 2012 olympics) or even more creative ideas (I'm thinking fireworks on the last point of a match, or maybe a program that automatically tweets the score in real time). These can all be made to interface with the system cheaply and setup with minimal effort. I demonstrated the ability for MQTT to work across a wide array of technologies at GreatUniHack 2020 by using it to communicate across 4 different programming languages: Javascript, Java, Python and C++.
Even further to that, this allows referees at tournaments to store scores for group and knockout stages, preventing the accidental lack of score recording (in group mode you cannot reset the board without storing the score). Using a desktop application could allow multiple scoring systems to be connected at once allowing referees to upload their scores to a central recording application, reducing the extreme waits at some fencing tournaments due to the written recording, and subsequent manual data entry, most tournament organisers use.
In 2020, a good friend of mine, Jasper Newport, asked me about the creation of an online magazine where he would be able to post content categorised into subjects like History, English and Economics, citing a large number of friends who he thought would be willing to provide articles hosted in such a manner. Along with another of my friends, Callum Nimmo, in September of the same year we purchased www.hoi-magazine.com to host my design and began sourcing writers.
The backend design used fundamental php and SQL just like COVID Challenges which was my first attempt at a web backend of any kind.
In 2017, Mr.Berry, one of the best teachers I've ever met, approached me with a SparkFun Geiger Counter unable to decipher how to extract readings from it. Luckily I had been using FTDI boards to program the Esp8266-01 and recognised the 6 pin FTDI layout on the left hand side of the board.
I used an Arduino Uno, combining a GPS board and a SD card reader with the Geiger counter to create a device which could be deployed on 5V power to record an accurate time and location of each ray it detected in a txt file. Use of a red insulating hood prevented detection of alpha particles, an added plastic shield does the same for beta particles, allowing the project to be adjusted for cosmic ray detection. Working with a team of two others to work on a write up and using the device to analyse cosmic ray events in our school, we earned a gold CREST award without a supervisor and 3rd place at the national HiSPARC conference for our presentation at Birmingham University. Additionally, I won Ogden trust physicist of the year.
I also came up with a more concise device using a SparkFun Esp8266 Thing to detect events from the Geiger counter and send them to a google sheet, this used google's API to get the time and date over the cloud. The disadvantage to this being a reliance on a wi-fi signal and losing exact latitude and longitude values. However, it also meant it was monitorable over the internet meaning a large number of devices could be deployed and easily monitored from a central location. The added benefit of google sheets meant the collected data could also be shared in real time to anyone wishing to use it.
I had plans to make an escape room in my house for my friends to complete, but then COVID locked everybody down. Then agan, I've never let a small thing like that stop me before.
Built using the Unity engine with Photon, to provide multiplayer functionality, the game started as a simple model of the park where I live that me and friends could run around in digitally whilst chatting. Admittedly, this has since escalated.
It's currently a large island with multiple "puzzle areas" which each have their own mechanics and routes, some of which are less obvious but take much less time. Designed for 6 people, every 15 minutes the sun sets and the game is reset right back to the beginning. Winning the game requires the result of completing every challenge around the island. This challenges players to not only solve the puzzles, but master the teamwork, problem solving and platforming skills required to combine their solutions together in time to reach the end of the game.
This is an ongoing project. Currently I'm working with the vivox voice and text comms system to encorporate local voice chat, preventing players from being able to communicate should they get too far from eachother in game. This brings pre-planning into the game, since there is not enough time to solve all three puzzles sequentially before sunset, players are forced to split up and coordinate a return in the end.