My vague plan is to fit an RFu microcontroller in these and 'do stuff' with them. Probably involving a PIR sensor, RGB LED and maybe a piezo sounder for basic sound generation.
This doesn't sound that interesting unless you realise the RFu shown in the second picture has an SRF radio which can be used to do 'mesh' type radio communications over hundreds of meters soldered to the board.So the vague plan is these will be remotely controllable in software and also report home if the sensor is activated.
This means having working sensors that could become a perimeter alarm in a modern or sci-fi LARP is a realistic possibility. As are all manner of pretty light patterns at night, but that's not actually something I'm too bothered about.
There are obviously hurdles to be overcome. I've bought a starter kit of SRF radio stuff that needs playing with, I've no idea how good it is in practice. The AAA battery will need a step-up PSU to run the gubbins, that battery may not last long at all and squeezing it all in tidily may get impractical. If I run out of battery life or space, stuffing some AAs in the pole is the obvious answer but I really like the idea of these charging in the sun.
Still if the SRF stuff works well I can see it having loads of applications. As well as these I have vague plans to use it in making Spookytron 2.0 wireless.
I was at a sci-fi LARP over the weekend where they used a car stereo to play sound effects in the woods. This worked absolutely great but stringing the wire up in the trees was a right pain.
At MCM last summer we used wireless speakers to do ambient sounds but having the sensors triggering sounds like with Spookytron is what I'm aiming for.
First though I've a couple of other projects I ought to finish.
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