How does it work?
Before playing the Game of Shame, you first need to strap on
two small electrodes on different fingers of the same hand. Our program passes
a small voltage difference across the two fingers, using your hand to complete
the electrical circuit. This setup is called a “galvanic
skin response,” which we will refer to as “GSR” from
now on. Your electrical resistance is measured once the “ask question”
button is pressed. The other player then asks you an embarrassing question.
After a few seconds, your body’s resistance is measured once again.
The initial and final resistances are subtracted to reveal your level of shame.
The difference is displayed
on the two LED screens and depending on the value of the difference, a motor
may be triggered to turn the rotating display.
Your shame level is sorted into one of four categories:
1. shameless #@*%!
2. that’s it?
3. hot under the collar
4. glad mom ain’t here!
The first category triggers a little song, and the screen displays “shameless
#@*%!”
The other three categories trigger the motor, which turns until the rotating
display has rotated to the correct message indicating your level of shame.
How does the motor know to stop at the right place? We used a shaft
decoder, which uses a bright LED and a light sensor to measure how much
the rotating display has turned and to stop the motor when the display has
reached the right message.
And there you have it.
We'd like to extend our
sincerest gratitude to Robbie and Lyn for staying up late, being infinitely
patient, the warm chocolate chip cookies and helping us out with our misbehaving
Crickets and their code :)