LPPI AnswerBox – Prototype

We have seen a lot of different response devices out there and each have their pro’s and con’s, so we decided to make our own.

This is an unfinished prototype.

We wanted our device to be simple, but friendly looking. We wanted it provide visual indicators and not make potentially threatening sounds. It needed to be something that young entities would not find intimidating, and also something that older would easily be able to understand what it is doing.

That’s where we came up with the idea of using a simple wooden box with wooden letter blocks.

When it’s first powered on it reads the ambient static electricity in the air around the box for about 30 seconds to establish it’s baseline. Once that has been established, it then monitors static around the block itself. If it detects an increase of static near the block it lights up the corresponding LED. Green for Y or Yes, Red for N or No. If the LEDs never turn off and settle, there’s too much static in the air around the block which will prevent the device from working.

It does not require direct contact with the antenna wire wrapped around the blocks. My hand didn’t have much in the way of static on it when making the video.

Since it does work off static, and each block operates independently it is possible for a static field to set off both LEDs at the same time, which can be useful for Maybe or I don’t know.

If this works out well in the field, the device may be extended to include more potential responses.