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Name: Joshua Unger

Element14 Community member since: March 10, 2018

More about the contestant:

Good evening Element 14. My name is Josh Unger and I am very excited to be entering the Hack Like Heck Contest. Electronics have always been a very big part of my life spending countless hours working on an electronics project whether it was using an Arduino to make a led blink or just applying power to a dc motor. At a young age I started tearing toys apart my parent got me for Christmas, my birthday or any other special occasions. I remember my parents always yelling at me telling me they are not going to buy me another toy because I ripped that one apart.  I was just so curious on how it operated. Little did they know that me tearing the toys apart would lead me to be building all kinds of interesting projects. I went to a local community college and got my associates degree in computer science and an electrical ac/dc certification. After a few years of college I bought my first soldering iron and started to learn how to solder. It was not easy and was very frustrating at times. After upgrading to a digital variable soldering iron, I found soldering to come easier. I experimented with leds, arduino boards, relay logic, and all sorts of other electronics. By doing this, I taught myself how to program micro controllers.

Over the past few years I got into designing portable gaming devices. I bought myself a 3D printer and been creating prototypes ever since. I created and designed a rigid portable pi with a 40000mah battery bank with a port to recharge over a usb port. The portable pi includes a raspberry pi with retropie installed, a large 7 inch hd screen, a small speaker with volume control, a battery indicator, and a power button. In my portable pi, I implemented a magnetic reed switch to allow the screen to turn off when the case is closed to conserve battery power. I also installed a shutdown button and a button to turn the whole unit off for travel. All of this is packed in a closeable and lockable case where you can store you 8bitdo controller or other small controller. All parts were designed in solidworks and 3d printed to fit all parts and pieces. I created a fun and enjoyable gaming system that I can look at and tell people “I made that”.         

After showing friends and family my retropie, I began receiving requests to make them their own handheld retropie they can carry with them and play in the car with the buttons built into the gaming device. Having never designed a handheld retropie before, I started on paper and drew out the design for exactly as Ben Heck demonstrated in his videos. After designing on paper, I bought a raspberry pi, a small 4 inch screen, prototype boards, tact buttons,  and a 3000mah battery with adafruit battery smart charger.  I also used some small wire laying around my workshop to wire all the electronics together. I also used some speakers out of an old Nintendo ds.  After designing the case on solidworks I printed it out on my Flashforge Creator Pro and then started to assemble. After assembly it powered right up. Everything works flawless and it looks amazing. All my friends are very impressed with the outcome.

Starting my next project is a one handed controller for my friend who lost his right arm a few years back. A friend that loves gaming will finally be able to play a game comfortably. I have to figure out what I am going to purchase and start with the design. I am excited to start this project.

Thank you again element 14

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