Okay, so I have insane amounts of work to do, but I wanted to share this while I was thinking about it. One of the nice things about Drupal is that it's fairly easy to go through your visitor logs without additional software. So I often check them out, usually to see what kinds of search engine results point to me.

Apparently, if you're looking for a super awesome site, you need look no further. I have no idea how that happened, and I take no credit for it.

So, I'm thinking about adapting Apples to Apples as an educational game. I'm jotting down a couple ideas I've had so far.

• Every "noun" card is an animal.
• Every "adjective" card could describe an animal. These could be words like "aquatic," "big," "gray," "squishy," "slimy."
• Instead of the judge player picking just one card submitted by the other player per round that describes the animal, the judge is free to pick as many that work.
• The cards are either then saved as a stack to be reviewed by the teacher at the end of the activity or the words and animal are written down on a worksheet.
• The point values for winning will probably have to be increased because more cards will be able to be picked by the judge.

So, we have working game code for the trauma bear. See the attachments for that.

The first file the processing code and the second is the arduino code.

Photos and videos to come.

So, we've got that main processing code ready to go! Sort of. Inti has kicked ass getting the physical states codified, and the processing code looks great with the graphics that Tracy posted. I now need to combine the physical pieces that Jay has built for the intubation and ventilator and accelerometer (all of which are killer!) with the Arduino code with the finished state machine and get the thing running.

Very, very soon, this bear will live! And then die!

Processing code is attached below.

Just a bit of pseudo-code that shows the state transitions in our trauma bear project.

start
	*random
		-> convulse_cardio
		-> convulse_flatline
		-> convulse_gi
convulse_cardio
	*time < 20 && comp >= 6 && accel. == BACK
		-> stable
	*else
		-> death
convulse_flatline
	*time > 10
		-> any_touch
convulse_gi
	*time > 5
		-> shallow_vital
stable
	*time > 10 && accel. < error_movement
		-> well
	*else
		-> need_more_comps
dead
	*reset_button == HIGH
		-> start
well
	*reset_button == HIGH
		-> start
shallow_vitals
	*accel. == SIDE && time < 15
		-> ready_to_intubate
	*intubated == HIGH && time < 15
		-> tube_convulse 
	*else
		-> death
need_more_comps
	*time < 20 && comp >= 6 && accel. == BACK
		-> stable
	*time < 20
		-> need_air
	*else
		-> death
need_air
	*intubated == HIGH && pumps >= 6 && time < 20
		-> stable
	*else
		-> death
flatline
	*flatline_total < 3 && paddles_applied && time < 20
		-> paddled
	*else
		-> death
tube_convulse
	*intubated == LOW && time < 15
		-> shallow_vitals
	*else
		-> death
ready_to_intubate
	*intubated == HIGH && time < 15
		-> intubated
	*else
		-> death
intubated
	*accel. < error_movement && time > 10
		-> well
paddled
	*random
		-> needs_air
		-> flatline
		-> well
any_touch
	*time < 20 && accel. > error_movement
		-> flatline
	*time >= 20
		-> death

Here's what's new with the bear project as of yesterday:

• Roller switch installed in the chest. Giving it six hits restores normal heart rhythm in the bear.
• New "convulse" routine. The bear convulses until CPR is performed.
• Improved chest action. Two metal plates sandwich the servo, make a much more realistic breathing response. Extra stuffing and the rumbler for the heart sit on top.
• Accelerometer wired up and coded to check for the proper positioning of the bear, i.e. the bear must be laying down before CPR can be performed effectively
• Work has begun on the sounds, both the simple ones for the bear and the richer ones on the Processing interface.

Some raw videos of the Mein Stiffi group photon bombing the police car from their secret perch high above the city. Just trying to spread a little love, that's all!

Here is the Arduino code (see attachment) for the three haptics projects we made this week. Not exactly pretty production code, but good enough to start hacking around with. The key pieces are the timings and intensities, so pay special attention to those.

You'll also need to uncomment the various function calls in the loop() to make different projects work. They should be self-explanatory, be give me a holler if you run into issues. You can leave comments on this post by logging in with your A server name and password.

The Shaky Cap: Like a shot to the cranium!By far our strangest interface, the haptic helmet creates the feeling of shooting out the top of your head, as if you yourself were the player's shapeship in Galaga.

One vibrating motor is positioned in a knit cap at the base of the skull. A second one is place farther up on the head. By tweaking the timings and intensity, based on our original shooter interface, the user gets the feeling of a pulse travelling up from the back of his or her head.

The Helmet of Doom: Rattles ya!As icing on this strange little cake, we put our big, custom-made rumbler in this helmet, which fits over the top of the knit cap. The low-frequency shaking adds just the right kind of touch to the shooting effect--it really rattles you a little bit.

Personally, I don't fit into the helmet. My noggin is huge. But for someone with a skull a few sizes smaller than mine, I can see this being a lot of fun. It's definitely very trippy.

The haptic bear we built has a beating heart and breathing lungs. The heart is a vibrating disc motor that pulses in the familiar rhythm. The lungs are a servo with an arm that pushes on a metal plate in the chest cavity.

The video doesn't really do him justice, but he is incredibly cute, despite his recent surgery: