Hands on Katie
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Playroom ACTIVATED!!
🕑 Added 2026-02-03 09:50:49 +0000 UTCWell as you know from all the sneak peeks you've seen, this has been a huge project in a tiny space!!
The physical build was about half the work, but the software/electronics side is where I've had just as much fun!!
I'll need to do a mini-video or a web guide on some of these components as it's hard to illustrate quite how much is packed in.
So whilst the video shows a single button for 'Gaming' or 'Steam':
Behind the scenes, what this actually does is:
- turn the TV on
- change to the right HDMI port
- send a wake on LAN to the steam PC (or use a smart plug on the Switch to switch it off an on again as Nintendo are silly with their smart tech!)
- adjusts 8 different sets of lights to the right level, colour and effects
- maps them to react to the sounds of the speakers
- connects all the speakers in a surround group
- and closes the blinds
If you think about the reality if you DIDN'T have this, you basically couldn't be bothered to do this every time you want to play a game, so you end up just sitting with the sun reflecting off the screen, the sound not quite tuned, wandering around the room pressing buttons and cursing about which hdmi port is correct.
And that's obviously just one button! I'm so pleased with this as it also means I can easily extend any features and I NEVER HAVE TO OPEN A DOZEN SILLY APPS....
And then the kids 'behavioural system' is a world in itself - again letting me add controls across the room, reward habits I want to build.
What's great about this is it's naturally not just confined to the tablet, I can display on the screen in the hall, on any PC or device across the house.
I've also started musing about creating variable rewards - eg their 100 points could get them 30 mins on the switch or 1 hour of table tennis with me! I can let them 'buy' other things - again books can be 'subsidised' vs computer games or whatever I think is healthy for them!
Anyway - I just wanted to give you all a bit more behind the scenes detail, if only so when you see me 'clicking a button' in the video, you can see all the thinking that goes behind it!
Hope you enjoy the video!
Comments
Hands on Katie
Heheh! Love it, Bazza! As long as you are having fun, that's the main thing!
Hands on Katie
Thanks Mitchell! The real proof is actually how excited the kids are to use it!!
Hands on Katie
Ah, I just skip that 'thinking about goals' bit, I just go bonkers! Glad you liked it!
Rhett Jones
Wow ! The finished product is wonderful. But trying to wrap my head around when you have the time to be a mom ,think about what your goals were, install everything and program the system for your needs. Mind boggling the time , knowledge and patience this required. You can tell us, your secretly WONDER WOMAN arent you?? nice job.
Mitchell Green
Katie you always do such amazing things but this is absolutely fantastic! The integration of the rewards system is genius! Nice job! đđđâđŒâđŒâđŒ
Bazza McSpleen
In the time it's taken you finish the playroom, add new things to your workshop, sort out frigate, edit and upload all the videos and photo content, and I'm sure a huge amount of other things, I've managed to get my synth plugged into an audio interface and playing through speakers... I am a lazy, lazy man!
