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Badge 25

Open Sauce 2025 Badge Assembly Instructions

Parts List

Make sure you have the following parts in your kit:

Parts
  • One 5mm Button
  • One CR2032 Battery Clip
  • One CR2032 Battery
  • One ATTiny85 Microcontroller (looks like a black rectangle with 8 pins)
  • One 0 Ohm Resistor
  • Five LEDs (Clear Lens, Makes Red Light)
  • One IR Photodiode (Black Lens)

Assembly

Read all instructions before assembly!
Do not start assembly until you have read this!
1) Solder in the five LEDs to the holes in the middle of the badge. The LEDs should be on the front side of the badge, the side with the robot's face. Make sure you put the long leg of the LED through the oval shaped holes
Front LEDs Back LEDs
2) Solder the CR2032 battery clip to the back of the badge. There is a white outline showing you the orientation to solder the clip, make sure you solder it the right way around. The little rectangular nub should be facing up.
Battery Clip In
3) Solder the ATTiny85 to the back of the badge. If you look closely at the chip, you should see a little notch on one end. Make sure that notch is facing up. The ATTiny is pre-programmed, you do not have to program it.
ATTiny In
4) We will be soldering the 0 Ohm resistor next. This part requires some explanation. The resistor acts as a cantilever and is designed to shake back and forth when you shake your badge. While shaking, the top part of the resistor should come in contact with the metal plated side of the top hole. Bend the legs of the resistor as shown below
Resistor Bent

Solder the bottom leg of the resistor through the hole as shown below. Do not solder the top hole!

Resistor Installed
5) Solder the 5mm button to the front of the badge.
Button In
6) (Optional) If you do this step, make sure you pay attention here! Bend the IR photodiode at a 90 degree angle so it is facing to the side of your badge. Solder the long leg through the oval hole! Yes, you read that right. The long leg through the oval hole. You will notice that the back of the badge says to put the long leg through the rectangle hole. That is wrong! We messed up! Feel free to comment about it below, it boosts engagement.
IR Diode Bent IR Diode In
7) Make sure your parts are all soldered correctly and nothing is bridged.
8) Insert a CR2032 battery into the battery clip. The top side of the battery with the + should be facing up.
Battery In
9) Hold down the 5mm button for a couple seconds. The LEDs should all flash, the first LED should flash, and then it should turn off. If it does that, it works!

Usage

Badge Modes

The badge has four different modes:

  1. POV Display
  2. Resistor Tune
  3. IR Programming
  4. EEPROM Erase

We will go over these modes later

Switching Badge Modes

To switch badge modes: press the 5mm button, wait for an LED to turn on, and then quickly release the button before the LED turns off. If you keep doing this, you will see the LEDs cycle on the badge.

LED 1 being lit corresponds to mode 1, LED 2 being lit corresponds to mode 2, etc.

Using a Badge Mode

To use a badge in a certain mode: cycle the modes until you are one mode before your desired mode, then press and continue to hold the LED until it turns off.

For example, if you are in mode 2 and want to use the badge in mode 1, follow these steps:

  1. Quick press to get to mode 3
  2. Quick press to get to mode 4
  3. Hold to boot the badge and start in mode 1. Continue holding as long as you are using the badge.

Mode 1: POV Display

POV stands for "Persistence of Vision". In this mode, when you shake your badge back and forth you should see the letters O P E N S A U C E spelled out one by one. Make sure you have tuned your resistor first, or this will not work.

Getting this to work takes a little practice, but it's easy when you get the hang of it.

Mode 2: Resistor Tuning

The 0 ohm resistor needs to be bent at just the right angle for the POV to work. It should be bent so that it almost touches the gold plated side of the top hole. Mode 2 helps you dial this in. When the resistor is making contact with the side of the hole, the first LED will light up. Your resistor is bent properly when the first LED flashes while you are shaking the badge back and forth in this mode.

Mode 3: IR Programming

By default your badge displays "O P E N S A U C E", but you can reprogram it to display whatever you want!

Use the programmer above to create your own custom animation

Once you are done creating your animation on the website:

  1. Press the "Start Flashing" button on the website
  2. Switch to badge mode #3
  3. Hold the photodiode on the left side of your badge up to the center of the flashing part of the website, you MUST hold the badge there until all steps are complete
Programming
  1. LED 1 should start flashing in sync with the website.
  2. Wait for LED 2 to turn on, this shows when the badge is ready to be programmed. This can take from just a few seconds to over 20 depending on conditions.

If you are having trouble getting this to work:

  • ensure your screen is turned to max brightness
  • point the photodiode directly at your screen, not at an angle
  • move to an area without bright ambient lighting (the sun)
  1. Press the "Transmit Data" button on the website
  2. Wait for the programming to complete, time will depend on the length of your animation.
  3. Done! Your badge should now display the new animation!

Mode 4: EEPROM Erase

If you have programmed a custom pattern into the badge with IR programming, this mode will let you erase it and return to the stock "O P E N S A U C E" message. Simply put the badge in this mode and continue holding the button until all the LEDs stop flashing.

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A Streaming Service From Open Sauce