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Every Parents Dream! - A Challenge for Ben Heck

timryder

My name is Tim, I am a Controls Engineer, I design/program develop automation and robotics for a living. I have been following you for only 4 months now but I've watched everything you've made thus far and have LOVED IT!  I didn't go to school to learn Electrical Engineering I just picked up what I've learned on my own and through resources like you guys here at Element 14!  What a phenomenal program.  There are 2 parts to this e-mail.  I have dozens of ideas for devices I'd like to build and but just don't have the raw basic knowledge of the mass plethora of components out there.  I understand the electrical circuits and theories but the practical applications you can use many of the common IC's out there is where I'm lacking.  Like for example, a while ago on a show you mentioned that you had limited I/O available through an Arduino Uno, so to expand your capacity you added a Bit Shift Register IC which expanded your available I/O and you mentioned that you could basically expand it even more by adding more BSR IC's..... HOW!? This is what I'd love to see. A show dedicated to common components used in the electronics design industry and some uses for them.   This would expand my capabilities as a designer MUCH more.

 

Ok so my REAL challenge!

 

I am a father of 2 and 1 on the way.  I've had this idea for years that I just haven't been able to realize and I'd love to challenge you to make it work!

Design and build a device which can be programmed to record and playback IR commands from remote control devices like a TV or cable Box.  Then when called upon by pressing a kid friendly large button, playback those IR commands in order which will Turn On the TV and Cable Box, Change the Channel to a programmed one.  I think it would be necessary to have a key or some sort of button which would be needed in order to record the IR signals from the remote controls and a handy display to be used for programming it. I don't think you've ever done a show that features the use of IR sensors, this would be a neat one I think many people would repeat.

 

The overall idea is to make a device which would allow a small child 2-5 to be able to turn on their tv and watch their shows without a parents help.

 

What do think?

 

-Tim Ryder

Parents Reply
  • in reply to timryder

     

    Let's assume that people in this thread are amazing parents so our topic can stay on electronics and ideas for Ben Heck's show. Zeta does bring up a good point however, perhaps a timing feature could be implimented to turn everything off after maybe 30-45 minutes. Pressing the main button would start the timer, and the manual switch to reset the button would also reset the timer.

Children
  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    Sure An automatic maybe programmable timer which turns off the TV might be a neat addition too.   There is definitely a lot of very thoughtful ideas coming from this community!  Thanks for the input everyone.

  • in reply to timryder

    Maybe throw in an RTC (real time clock) so the automatix shutoff time falls at the end of an hour / episode getting over.

     

    It would be a lot better for the kid to just have to press it again, then for them to press it over and over toggling on and off.

     

    Only issue with sensing power is that requires a cable.

     

    So you'd need an IR receiver to "read" the existing codes from the remote(s), and an emitter to send it to the TV.

  • in reply to benheck

    Ben,

     

    We could get stupid crazy and hook up a wireless transmitter in the power strip with built in current sensing.  The XBee Sheld and XBee transceiver is pretty inexpensive and could easily transmit the values of each of the current sensing plugs to the remote.  We could write a simple protocol which would cycle through the analog signals from each of the current transducers and transmit their values. Though that is getting a bit extreme.  But who's to say that this box can't be an ALL in one with a small pendant for the push button/programmer that does have a cord attached.  I personally wouldn't gripe about having to stick this pendant on my entertainment center out front with a small cord running back to the main box which contains not only the power strip of plugs but the electronics.

     

    That might make things simpler?

     

    The RTC is a nice addition. If you do end up making this an episode, can you do one thing for me? Show how you actually SET the time on the RTC.  In all of your shows when you make use of an RTC circuit, you show how to process the data it's sending to the processor but never how to actually set the time.  I'd personally be very interested in seeing this.