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GINGERTOWN - INTERACTIVE VILLAGE
Creative Embedded Systems, Nov-Dec 2024
Role: C++ Programmer, ESP32 Hardware Designer
Skills: CAD, Laser Cutting
OVERVIEW
My teammate and I built
an interactive gingerbread house village using LEDs, ESP32s, buttons, motion sensors, and laser-cut plywood. The installation simulates two houses “communicating” via WiFi.
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When motion is detected, the house’s porch light turns on, mimicking a neighbor noticing someone outside. Pressing the doorbell triggers a waving animation and a friendly “Hello!” message.
THE PROBLEM
Everyday neighborly interactions are rarer for young children to witness and learn from, creating a need for an intuitive and playful way to model social behaviors.
How can we design an interactive physical installation to support the learning of early social cues and interpersonal behavior in young children?
RESEARCH
Project MUSE - Use of Video Modeling to Improve Peer Interactions
This study shows that modeling social interactions, specifically through visual examples, can help young children improve how they initiate and sustain positive interactions with peers.
While outcomes varied across participants, the intervention increased positive social engagement for some children and was viewed as acceptable by both teachers and parents, suggesting that visual modeling is a promising tool for supporting early social development.
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GingerTown implements
such visual modeling
of social interactions.
INITIALIZING TWO-WAY CONNECTION
Linking ESP-32s together over WiFi
TTGO T-Display, our ESP32 device with a built in screen!
For my code design, I built off a basic two-way ESP communication example from Random Nerd Tutorials to display a greeting on one board and prompt a response.
I initially prototyped this interaction using the left I/O button on the ESP32 before moving to a separate button in the final version.
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During early testing, the greeting appeared on my screen but not on my partner’s. After troubleshooting, I discovered the issue was caused by mistakenly entering my MAC address as the destination instead of my partner's during initialization.
ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION
I learned that each ESP32 has a unique MAC Address and that this is how we identify the other board that we want to send data to.
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With this knowledge, I changed the value of the other device's MAC address to the hexadecimal representation of my partner's MAC address, and the two-way communication worked successfully.
PROJECT COMPONENTS
a) Full-size breadboard b) TTGO T-Display c) USB-C cable d) 1-ply plywood
e) Push button f) Male-to-male wires g) PIR motion sensor h) LED diodes
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PLANNING COMPONENT DESIGN
Prototyping in Fritzing
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I planned component placement in Fritzing, positioning the button and LED near the door to mimic a real doorbell and porch light. I then sketched the proposed locations directly onto an image of a gingerbread house (see right).
During implementation on the breadboard, several issues emerged. The motion sensor initially didn’t respond: no changes appeared in the serial monitor when motion was detected. While I first suspected interference from the USB-C cable, the issue was resolved by relocating the sensor to a different area of the breadboard. Additionally, both my partner and I encountered small constraints when translating this layout into our enclosures, so we adjusted the component wiring on each breadboard to best fit the shape of each house.
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HARDWARE ENCLOSURE
Gingerbread Houses
We originally planned to construct our enclosure out of cardboard due to similarity in appearance to gingerbread. However, we found that using 1-ply chipboard would be much easier to laser cut and assemble. I looked for designs on 3axis.co that resembled a gingerbread house, and found this design that was perfect for laser cutting.
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The interlocking house design from 3axis
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Our implemented enclosure design, made out of 1-ply chipboard
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THE SOLUTION
1) Motion activates porch light on the house
Features:
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Automatically turns on when motion is detected, requiring no physical interaction
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Provides clear visual feedback to indicate your "neighbor has arrived"
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Turns off shortly after motion stops, making interaction simple and intentional
2) "Doorbell" prompts waving and message
Features:
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Pressing the doorbell triggers the interaction and animation
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The still character transforms into a waving one and a“Hello!” message appears on the TTGO
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The wave and message disappear after a few seconds, mimicking a brief, pleasant social exchange
LEARNINGS
Keeping interactions like greetings visually straightforward makes social cues easy for users, especially children, to understand.
This idea is merely a starting point and could be extended to include complex social cues demonstrated through realistic animations.