The Great Wall

Part of building a prototype for an Activate game room is you need to build a portion of... a room. Since we are only making a 1-player game rather than a multiplayer game we decided to opt for a single wall with an IR touch frame and LED display.

Now building a wall is a pretty refined science since walls have been keeping people safe from the elements and their neighbors for thousands of years. However, our situation is unique in that this wall needs to be able to be transported from the testing location (a team mates unfinished basement) to the demonstration at the University of Waterloo.

This requires that the wall be simple to disassemble and possible to transport in the trunk of an SUV.

After consulting with a local union carpenter, Riley "The Stud" Poole, he proposed a modular design consisting of four 1mx1.5m panels that bolt together.

The design of a single panel is shown below:

This design fit our requirements and came together quickly over the weekend. Accelerated by the fact that Riley had all the equipment needed and led this wooden subproject to completion.

Showcasing the 4 panels below:

Here is the final result:

The IR frame will be positioned a few inches in front of the wall so the LEDs, mounted on the wall, will be able to disperse before coming in contact with the fabric mounted inline with the IR frame.