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Post by Pikachu on Jan 29, 2008 19:25:17 GMT -5
Hey guys. Most of you all know that the startup I'm with, NexusBridge, is doing a domino event for the local school districts here in the Bay Area, which connects to China. I have a little bit of a domino problem to work out, however, and it goes like this: The domino chain needs to hit a key on a keyboard to send an online signal to eject a CD-ROM drive in the next site, which will toppe the dominoes there. Getting the dominoes to fall on the keyboard? Well, the easiest way to do it is to build the entire design on a platform, but finding one big enough to hold 30,000 dominoes, for instance... that's incredibly hard. What this means is that I need to brainstorm a way to use some props to hit a key. I have a few ideas, but I could use some other heads in this. The purpose is to find a simple, yet consistent method that I can get high schoolers to do correctly  . So I am wondering.. does anyone want to play with dominoes... say.. Friday night? ;D |
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Post by Duragar on Jan 29, 2008 20:07:19 GMT -5
Sure.
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Post by Duragar on Jan 29, 2008 20:11:42 GMT -5
Friday evening or Saturday will work... if there's more OT to be had beyond Tuesday, I must have it.
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Post by dyuman on Jan 30, 2008 17:41:28 GMT -5
I be game. You could just macro all keys on a keyboard to cause the eject whatever you need and have something fall on the keyboard. Easiest way to do it at least. I got a few other ideas
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Post by Pikachu on Jan 30, 2008 18:37:26 GMT -5
The issue is more so getting the dominoes to fall onto a keyboard. If it was a small design, we could just build it on a table, but the designs are like, 10k+ pieces. We have the software, we just need a physical trigger.
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Post by buhwhyen on Jan 30, 2008 21:43:15 GMT -5
Question: Does the key press have to be from a domino hitting the keyboard? Or can the domino knock something else over than in turn hits the keyboard?
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Post by dyuman on Jan 31, 2008 0:49:27 GMT -5
^ if that be the case and it can be something the dominoes hit to cause it (like knocking over a book or a trigger lever) makes it much easier.
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Post by Pikachu on Jan 31, 2008 4:15:36 GMT -5
Yes.. now getting that sort of leverage would be nice.
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Post by dyuman on Feb 1, 2008 10:16:36 GMT -5
Time you want us to show up Josh? Your place i assume?
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Post by Duragar on Feb 1, 2008 13:34:53 GMT -5
I have a bit of a conundrum... Scott's Birthday is today, and he was interested in playing D&D again this evening (I say again because we played last night). Normally, I would tell him that I already made plans, but dammit, I hate when I get hit with the birthday guilt trip. I also need to go to Costco to get food for next week, so no matter what I do it's going to be delayed. So... advice on what to do at this point? |
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Post by dyuman on Feb 1, 2008 17:42:04 GMT -5
Based on your call sounded like you were just gonna drop by and then come, which to me is perfectly fine. A sense of "Happy Birthday, here you go (hand gift), enjoy your birthday but I need to take care of some stuff today and unfortunately cannot stay and play" seems perfectly appropriate. Josh does need this ready before chinese new year for his company(which is in less than 2 weeks), so it isnt a lie in the least.
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Post by Pikachu on Feb 1, 2008 18:58:52 GMT -5
Erm, if you need to go, it's not a big deal. Just come over any time after 7 and we'll mess with some ideas I guess. Bring Scott if you want, unless he has other company.
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Post by Duragar on Feb 1, 2008 19:13:36 GMT -5
Yeah. I'm just gonna stop by, say Happy Birthday, and drop off a gift. I'd like to help with the domino project.
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Post by buhwhyen on Feb 1, 2008 19:57:41 GMT -5
Pretty sure I found a solution. Its hella brain-dead stupid, but I think it'll work out better than it really should. And its non expensive. And even high schoolers could make this shit work.
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Post by Pikachu on Feb 11, 2008 18:58:00 GMT -5
As a bit of closure to this event, here's what happened: We toppled around 300,000 dominoes in total, with 2/3 of that happening in China (since they have like, Zerg numbers there). The software works, but I think the IT guys didn't pass the message to the kids/teachers/activity coordinators how to use the software, so they weren't checked in properly. Oh well. There was considerable lag at Lynbrook, but people who hardwired their computers onto a T1 line got a good show. Hong Kong had like, TV stars topple their first domino as a part of their event, so I guess that's just their thing. Not bad. Beijing collapsed their dominoes on their own, I think, and the quality of the camera wasn't good enough to show the dominoes toppling in detail. Anyhow, the people in attendance were really satisfied and hyped up at all the sites, especially in Fremont. Lots of thank you e-mails have been pouring in. Personally, I'm just glad it's over. I'm happy to have done this, and happy you guys were willing to put some time in to help me out as well... but I am soooo glad I made it through the event. I'm pretty disappointed that our Olympic torch design at Lynbrook experienced so many disasters that we couldn't properly finish it, though. But the spirit behind the event was still there and the schools in China really appreciated the gesture. As for my TV appearance, it was on CBS channel 5 on Sunday morning, the day after. I woke up hella early to go to SF, where I only got 5 minutes to set up a quick domino thing for the interviewer to topple at the end of our interview. I have it on DV-R, of course, and watched the interview when I got home, and then promptly went back to bed. All in all, a good ending. A bit of irony I'm sure you'd all appreciate: I skipped a rerun recording of Pokemon that overlapped our TV interview.  |
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. So I am wondering.. does anyone want to play with dominoes... say.. Friday night? ;D
