Wild Goose Development
Wild Goose Development
Custom-designed electronic and mechanical systems developed for unique or non-standard applications. Projects range from precision control assemblies to integrated demonstration platforms.
Integrated electrical and mechanical system development from concept through prototype validation.
Servo-driven mechanisms, actuator control, and sensor integration for precision applications.
Functional prototype construction for feasibility evaluation and demonstration.
Complete electromechanical assemblies developed for training, research, or controlled display environments.
Special projects are treated as full lifecycle engineering efforts. Mechanical, electrical, and control subsystems are developed in parallel to ensure cohesive operation.
Focus remains on reliability, safety, and functional clarity rather than cosmetic presentation.
This involved the creation of electronics that were used in specialty cakes. These electronics were controlled by a PIC18F14K22 and controlled Lumenati RGB LED's. They were designed with pre-programmed scripting sequences, preset for playback at power up. A toothpick withdrawal power enable and off the lights would run. Each chip when programmed would be pre-loaded with a random number block file as well as all the scripts required for that model. This means two chips programmed with same scripts would look totally different upon how they were programmed in their use of the Random bit stream for its processing.
How else could you have a flickering {shades of red/yellow/orange} fire on a real frosted cake!
The following image is from a BSA Eagle Court of Honor celebration!
Campfire light ring!
HSL color selection guide for scripting!
A controller board used for carnival gaming which uses a PIC18F4550 has dual analog inputs for game timing configuration and dip switches for selecting up to 31 games and an internal diagnostic mode. 12 Digital inputs, 12 SPDT relay outputs, a game start inut, input and output LED status indicators and a built in switching power supply. Has memory as well as USB and RS-232 communications.
This "Windy Hollows" game used the Carnival Board and was used for several years at an annual church carnival by a boy scout troop. It used Flourescent LED lighting. Had eight water pumps. One each station for filling the plexi-glass tube when a hit occured, and one each station for draining the tubes. Each station had a reprogrammed emergency road flasher as its candle. When an air burst hit the target, the pump would activate for a short period adding water to the tube. When the tube reached the top, it would trigger the full float switch and trigger a winner. A start button is actually a "flush" button which would drain the system in preparation to the next game. One more item to add is that at the bottom of each tube, a station colored light would illuminate the tube from the bottom, and an aerator was also running so the light would reflect and refract off the side of the tubes. At night this was a beautiful display and was very popular.
This involved a series of controllers. LCD displays, and LED displays, magnetic sensor coils for 1/32 scale slot car racing. Had a bill acceptor so up to 4 players would pay for a race.
Slot Car Game - CPU Controller
Slot Car Game - Dual station Scoreboard Section
This involved the creation of a casino progressive system installed in a florida casino. Involved a network of slot machine cards that interfaced to each slot machine in the casino and were networked to a central progressive server. This in turn was connected to plasma displays on the casino floor. All hardware and software was designed and built by us.
Each board used a PIC18F6520 and would plug into the poker 8-line bus and monitor the switches and lamps and be configured for the specific method of operations of that machine. With each play it would communicate the metrics of that play to the progressive for its progressive event triggering.
Progressive Meter - 1 large jackpot and 3 small ones!
We designed the controller card that plugged into the poker 8-line bus of the slot machine and interfaced to our 'slot machine' computer. It contained the digital inputs for the switches and the outputs for the lamps, along with the coin hopper, candle, audio amplifier for the slot cabinets speaker, and other signals.
We also manufactured the 'slot machine' computer we called the "Blue Goose". It was a custom designed computer that we manufactured which was much smaller than the off the shelf computers at that time and fit inside the video slot machine cabinets.
Bingo Game - We were contracted to build a 3D graphics casino game for a client, sponsored by a casino which was a celebrity Bingo Game. Yes, Bingo can be exciting! 3D artists were used for the art. Celebrity was used for their cheerful voice overs. It played similar to a pinball machine. When the player placed their bet, the plunger would rapid launch bingo balls up and over and then a butterfly would fly in flapping its wings, land on that spot and mark the card. If a particular bonus pattern was matched, then the bonus game would be triggered! Lots of animated 3D objects, flapping butterflies, Gold spinning coin, Lip synced avatar cheering you on, etc. When a new game was triggered, last play would be cleared with butterflies flying away, a new card would be placed, and the game would start again.
Bingo Bonus Game - If a particular bonus sequence was hit in the Bingo game, then the bonus game would be triggered! The ball would spin round and round, slowing and then fall into a side slot and that bonus value would be added onto your total. The bonus game has not quite finished but the 3rd ball in the 3 picks has entered its slot, but not quite registered yet for the total amount won!
