Switch Lab

For my “fun switch,” I went for a Wizard of Oz-inspired device: the Dorothy boots.

When the heels of the boots touch, the light goes on, just like Dorothy’s famous ruby slippers.

My secondary plan for this was to try and add in some Arduino code to, ideally, only activate the light when the user said “There’s no place like home!”, or less ideally, to play a clip of Dorothy saying “There’s no place like home!” in the film.

Unfortunately, this didn’t really get off of square one: I am discovering that knowing how to write JavaScript does not actually mean that I know how to code an arduino yet. I spent several hours messing with scripts, and was unable to even get a “blink” script working on my Arduino — hoping I didn’t fry it.

However, I did hit my minimum viable product goal: using a simple circuit and copper tape on my heels, I was able to create a light that turns on when I click my heels, shown in the video below.