Boombox Blaster

Now, I often reflect to myself smugly that Pi Towers is a really cool place to work. We’ve got an arcade machine, a fake hamster (Emma has forbidden all pets of the higher orders) in a real cage, brine shrimp (Emma’s OK with those), a Portal Turret, Pac-Man dress-up gear, juggling clubs, about fifty Rubik’s cubes, Biscuits the Robot, a drone whose whirling blades we use to keep Eben’s remaining hair short, a cupboard full of ramen, many remote-control cars, a Hornby train set, Cake Tuesdays, a hydroponic windowsill garden, a Tardis that’s been to space, and Gordon.

Sadly, I think we’ve been out-cooled by an outfit called Neo-Pangea (even their name is cooler than ours). These guys have standing desks. And ceilings made from scaffolding and pallets. And an office dog. And nerf guns. And a much cooler name than ours. They play music in the offices all day long (try that round here and James will likely come over and bludgeon you to death with the base of the soldering station). They are a Digital Boutique. We’re not quite sure what that is, but it sounds cool.

And they’ve used a Raspberry Pi to make office music selection much, much cooler.

Pi Towers: we need to get a Mexican wrestling mask.

Neo-Pangea say:

We turned our pressure-sensitive target into a tiny house that is carried into the clouds by a hot air balloon. Now, when those dreaded tunes pollute our atmosphere, Neo-Pangea’s residents can take aim to do something about it. After being hit by a Nerf projectile, the floating house lights up to acknowledge the successful hit. The balloon lights up with LED flames and is reeled into the clouds by a servo. This luminous aerial ballet is a physical representation for the signal traveling to the Sonos API on our Raspberry Pi that skips the player to the next song. The Boombox Blaster now resides in the very heart of the office and in the hearts of those dedicated, slightly mad team members who labored for countless hours to transform this music-fueled fever dream into a useful, blastable reality.

You’ll find a build diary, along with some Node JS script to control Sonos via your Pi, over at Neo Pangea’s blog.

I have just noticed that they also have a guy with a top hat. Pi Towers, we need to up our game.

13 comments

MalMan35 avatar

When I saw this I laughed soooooo hard. And brother did to. I also liked what you said about

a drone whose whirling blades we use to keep Eben’s remaining hair short

And

*ahhhhhhh! Somebody turn IT OFF!!!*

Jay Tremblay avatar

Salutations, Pi people! From the entire Neo-Pangea team, thanks ever-so-much for creating great hardware and for sharing our Boombox Blaster with the Raspberry Pi faithful! :-)

Liz Upton avatar

We thought it was brilliant. Thanks for thinking to use a Pi!

Yvan T. avatar

Cool gadget.

I can see this turned into a shooting gallery for youngsters (or young at hart).

Counting hist from the nerf guns.
I imagine you can make moving targets also.

Have fun

AndrewS avatar

With a Clive-lookalike at 8 seconds in?

Liz Upton avatar

Startlingly similar spectacles.

Clive Beale avatar

More like Philip’s!

Hove avatar

I love the fact it’s a bloke sewing up the balloon. Messr. Akerman, I’ll be looking for a stitching demo at the next Cotswold Jam at the end of September!

Gee 'The Rabid Inventor' avatar

One of the guys in the vid looks suspiciously like Clive being tortured by music. Is that were he used to be sent when he was naughty :)

Liz Upton avatar

You are the second person to mention that. Clive, affronted, responds that the guy doesn’t look *anything like* him.

Simon Long avatar

Hang on, hang on – Cake Tuesday? I’ve been at Pi Towers nearly a year, and no-one’s mentioned that to me before now. Which means I’m owed a year’s worth of cake…

(Hint – it’s my birthday on Thursday. Just so you know…)

Liz Upton avatar

You know that table next to my desk? That’s where they live. Unfortunately, Gordon’s on the other side of it, so few cakes last long.

Birthday noted. I won’t make any jokes about it because I feel genuinely sad for you BEING SO OLD. :D

Cassie Wallender avatar

*slow clap*

Comments are closed