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Combine Simulator and Big Wheel

We helped create a combine simulator using a real combine cab. You can step inside, sit down, and turn on the combine. You hear the engine start, and see a corn field in front of you on the large monitor. You adjust the throttle and steer with the real controls, and after you harvest the corn, you drive to the bin, extend the arm, and dump the corn into it.

To create this virtual world, we adapted a 3D program, wrote scripts to integrate it with a small Linux computer system, and modified the 3D program to get input from the real controls. We used a micro-controller to connect those controls to the PC and 3D software.

The inventor of the Ferris wheel hailed from Galesburg, Illinois, so Discovery Depot also wanted a big wheel as centerpiece of their new museum. We helped build an interactive  a nine-foot tall Ferris wheel with user controlled light patterns and colors. It uses over 30,000 RGB LEDs and users change the animations and colors via a wireless control panel.

Project Requirements

Adapt and improve an existing 3D tractor simulation program to include realistic controls and larger displays. Also develop an interactive ferris wheel that users could control both the color and the pattern of the light displays as the ferris wheel turns.

Technology Used

Raspberry Pi embedded linux. Teensy micro controller. Unity software. Low-power analog/digital circuitry. Lots and lots of LED lights.

Big Wheel Images 

Galesburg’s Big Wheel

2 Photos
13 May 2015
  • CLIENT: Discovery Depot Children's Museum
  • DEVELOPMENT PARTNER: Kidzibits
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