Dad Signal Brings All the Boys to the Bar

Socializing as an adult is hard and that is especially true if kids are in the picture. Making friends is a challenge and after you've managed that, you still have to coordinate to make some time for your pals. A garage or basement bar is a great way to motivate your buddies to come over, but how do you tell everyone to gather without resorting to a ridiculous text chain? One solution is to build a "Dad Signal" to bring all the boys to the bar.

This works like the Bat Signal to summon the neighborhood dads. Each fella gets a Dad Signal device to place somewhere in their home. When the host has time for a gathering, he can activate the Dad Signals. Every device will then project a logo onto the ceiling and emit a sweet guitar riff. Then each dude has the opportunity to press one of three buttons: I'm Coming, I'm Not Sure, or I Can't Come. That helps the host determine how many bros to prepare for.

Each Dad Signal device consists of an ESP32 development board, a powerful LED paired with a modified Fresnel lens for image projection, a DFRobot DFPlayer Mini MP3 Player with a speaker, and three push buttons. Those components all mount onto a custom PCB to keep everything tidy inside the 3D-printed enclosure.

Gears, Code, and Fire programmed the ESP32 boards using MicroPython. They connect to each chap's respective WiFi network to communicate with the host's Indigo Domotics home automation server.

It would be possible to activate the Dad Signals through a simple software button, but that doesn't carry enough gravitas. Instead, Gears, Code, and Fire built a huge mad scientist-style throw switch. That has its own ESP32 dev board to communicate the status of the switch to the home automation server. It also has a light that indicates when the dad signal is active.

Now whenever Gears, Code, and Fire fancies a lager with the lads, he can throw the lever to send out the Dad Signal. If the stars all align, his home bar will soon be full of the drunken laughter of fathers enjoying some guy time.