When we decided that we wanted to build a castle as our final project, we were overflowing with ideas as to what we would do. Originally we wanted booby-traps, flames, flashing axes, vats of boiling oil, and fire-breathing dragons. Once we started considering the logistics of this plan, we decided to simplify a little. The new plan was to build a castle through which a hero (a knight in shining armor, of course) would move through on a conveyor belt. He would encounter a different challenge in each room he entered. If he made all the way through the castle, he would find a princess waiting for him.
We decided to build our castle out of styrofoam, which would give us more creative leeway than legos would. After aquiring the styrofoam, the first thing we did was create the conveyor belt. After that we added a chopping axe. Our program caused the axe to chop continuously during the length of the game. We programmed the conveyor belt to stop every time the knight entered a room.
We encountered a problem when trying to figure out how we would have a fire-breathing dragon. So we ditched that idea, and decided to have the user make choices for the knight instead. In the first room, the user had to decide which sword the hero was going to use. We made tiny swords and placed touch sensors underneath them. We embedded the touch sensors in the styrofoam so they wouldn't be too obvious. In the program, we randomized which sensor would allow the knight to continue and which would "kill" him. The handy-board would signal the knight's death by playing a song. The second room contained the chopping axe. The knight was considered dead if the axe knocked him off the track. Providing that he got through the first two rooms unscathed, the knight would enter the third room, and the user was faced with another choice. Here the user had to choose which treasure chest to open. We placed embedded touch sensors behind the chests, so they would be triggered by its opening. Again we randomized which one would allow the knight to continue and which would end the game. If the user chose correctly in this room, the knight would move on to meet the princess, obviously his True Love. When he enters the final room, the handy-board played the wedding march.
