Build Inside The Box Challenge! -- Episode 500

Welcome to the 500th episode of element14 presents! We decided to try something new for this episode - pitting three of our content creators against each other with the limitations of creating a working project with all of the parts in THE BOX. We also challenged the community members with the same restriction - you can see their projects here.

James, Clem and Katie are competing in this challenge - but they're playing for their favorite STEM organizations. See more about the competition.

Here's a link to the prizes the STEM organizations can win.

BONUS content:

Since we covered three builds in this episode, we thought you might like some more behind the scenes footage of each of the projects:

Katie's Digital Theremin

Clem's Parcel Calculator

James' Getting Sound out of an Arduino

Member's Entrants:

We also challenged our members to Build Inside The Box , click through to see the Member Projects! Also watch related episode 504.

And here's the Brainstorming Call where they discussed the parts when they received them.

Here's what's in THE BOX:

The BOX Buy the Box*
Arduino MKR Zero Buy Now	MULTICOMP PRO Portable USB High Capacity Power Bank Buy Now
WAGO Pluggable Terminal Block Buy Now	MICROCHIP MCP604-I/P Operational Amplifier Buy Now
VISHAY Phototransistor Buy Now	MIDAS OLED Graphic Display Buy Now
MICROCHIP Temperature Sensor IC Buy Now	ST Range/Gesture Sensor 53L0-SATEL-I1 Buy Now

Build Inside the Box

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Top Comments

Stefan-xp over 4 years ago in reply to kmikemoo

Thank you! I will try that, last time i did that my success was very limited
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kmikemoo over 4 years ago in reply to Stefan-xp

Stefan-xp There are three libraries for the VL53L3 in the Arduino IDE. One of those should get you up and running.
From the Arduino IDE, Tools, Manage Libraries... type VL53L3 in the search bar and let it do its thing.
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baldengineer over 4 years ago in reply to Stefan-xp

Hi Stefan, Thanks for the comments! To quickly answer both of your comments: time.

On the TOF, since they were I2C and I didn't see hardware address pins, I made the assumption I could not change their I2C address. So, once I decided it made more sense to use them for proximity detection, I ruled out distance measurement. It wasn't until I was cleaning up the code that I realized the TOF has a sequence that allows their addresses to be changed. (Which I think Katie figured out long before I did.) At that point, it was too late in the project for me to do it.

I had wanted to add sound effects for open/close and when you press the buttons. The sound library I'm using even supports playing multiple WAV files simultaneously. Unfortunately, I just didn't have time to implement it all.

As for the VL53L3CX-SATEL, the only library I found was for the STM32duino stuff...
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cummns over 4 years ago in reply to hifromkatie

That would be cool for the kids to take the project that won them that awesome 1st Place Prize! Good Luck! Also, great job using all the terminals, I would probably do the same thing if I were to work with electronics. I'm all about the quick connects!
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cummns over 4 years ago in reply to baldengineer

I thoroughly enjoyed how you were presented with a problem (battery cells) and worked out a way to use the kind you don't like but while still keeping it safe with the terminal switch. Much respect! I hope to find more videos like these.
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cummns over 4 years ago in reply to mayermakes

Clem, it would awesome to see updated progress and the finished product! If you get further down the line you might be able to hook it up to a shipping label printer and after you have measured the package it would print the label... just a thought... It's awesome to see a project like this continue on to do amazing things!
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Stefan-xp over 4 years ago

Hello,

I really enjoyed your projects.
- Clem: I really liked your approach on creating something practical. Not much to improve or disapprove (y)
- James: I really like your Idea, I'm a big fan :-) But i wondered why you did not add the TOF Sensor to the Sensors. And also the keys and open and close also had no sounds? (y)
- Katie: I really lilked the creativity. It shows, that it is possible to create interesting things without a lot of tools. (y)

I think everyone is a winner!

Btw... Does anyone know if there is a suitable "Arduino" Library for
VL53L3CX-SATEL?

I unfortunately bought some a time ago and discovered I'm unable to use it

Best regards, Stefan
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jimfrem99 over 4 years ago in reply to hifromkatie

Katie,

I also liked that you took it literally "Build INSIDE the Box" !

Great Job!

Kind Regards,
From Calgary Alberta Canada
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hifromkatie over 4 years ago in reply to easyejl

Thanks, I thought the punch card idea was ingenious, using it like that hadn't crossed my mind until I watched the video.

Would love to see how your idea goes, post how it goes on here.
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hifromkatie over 4 years ago in reply to zaidali87

Thanks
Glad people have noticed I used the box!
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