Startup in a Box

Having recently built a startup generation website I thought it'd be fun to give it a physical manifestation. A box full of startups, every time the box is opened a new procedurally generated startup idea is shown. This also served as a fun project to work on with my 7 years old daughter allowing her to explore the practical aspects of the abstract sciences she's been learning at school.

Currently I'm working on building a new webservice that would show shores and fun things to do instead of startup ideas, this would give the box a fun new angle and make it more relatable to kids.

The box

Build the box, balsa wood as it is easy to work with.

6 equal sized panels, and another that is 4 mm wider (to serve as the cover of the box). The box is reinforced at the base as well as the sides.

Start with the base and build up, use rubber bands to keep the box straight as the glue cures.

Use sandpaper to even out any irregularities and round the corners.

The slightly larger cover should have internal reinforcement and should fit in tightly on top

The middle separator should include an opening for the screen and a small window for the photo resistor.

Note: this separator would fit in snuggly into the box pulling it out can be a problem I added some pull tabs on the side to be able to pull it out and have access to whats under it once it is assembled.

Wiring

My prototyping board didn't fit into the box and the breadboard I had at hand was quite tiny, so I got quite creative (and messy with the wiring), I elected to use jumper wires to make it more accessible to my daughter to help with the project.

Photo resistor is connected as follows

The LED screen is wired to the argon SCL goes to SCL pin, SDA goes to SDA pin, both power and GND are shared with the ones wired to the photo resistor.

The screen is then fixed to the middle separator using hot wax glue gun

The photo resistor is fitted in the middle separator as well and hot wax glued in for good measure.

Code

I used Particle web-hook to call the webservice which I have prepared in advance, this however can be replaced with statically generated "ideas"

The code repository is on https://github.com/badr42/boxdisplay