A 'prediction Ball' based on CHING Liu Yao program

I created this ‘Prediction Ball’ to explore why fortune-telling applications are so popular. I was also a fortune-telling addict myself.

There are many digital fortune-telling tools on the market, ranging from tarot, astrology and even ancient Chinese methods of divination. And behind these divination tools are mathematical formulas, permutations, and combinations. In the end, I chose the simplest way - “Yes” or “No, ” and the hexagrams from the I Ching.

[ The Hardware ]

The hardware itself is very simple. I bought a ready-made acrylic hemisphere online and installed the Arduino board and other components inside. The round shape is meant to evoke the traditional crystal ball used in fortune telling. More importantly, I like the shape of the circle. It symbolizes the cycle of life, like destiny.

The ball is controlled using a Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR). My original plan was to activate it by shaking (perhaps by adding a vibration motor); perhaps this is something to develop for a later version.

The hexagram method is conducted using 3 coins. A group of 3 coins are tossed 6 times and the heads or tails results are recorded. These results are converted into laoyin, laoyang, shaoyin, shaoyang (also known as the “four phenomena”) and written down as a hexagram. The program digitizes this process.

For a more detailed explanation on the underlying principles of the hexagrams and the conversion process, you can check out my Youtube video (unfortunately I did this in Chinese, but you can use English automatic translation thx for understanding!)

There were several challenges:

• 1 The are numerous schools of thought on how to derive the hexagrams—it is impossible to say which one is the most accurate. In the end, I decided on the system established by the Han dynasty mathematician and astrologer Jing Fang (78 - 37BC).
• 2 Each hexagram is divided into its image and its interpretation, with the latter depending on the former. The interpretation also incorporates the lunar calendar and requires each image to be covered into digital form. As a hexagrams are a relatively more arcane form of divination compared to, for example, astrology, there are not many established systems of digitizing that information to data sets. So I left this part out for the time being.

Interesting findings:

1. The relationship between binary numbers and the Ba Gua is reflected in the program.

2. The seed of the random numbers are generated by the FSR’s reading of hand pressure. Although it is not true randomness, hand pressure can be said to be natural and uncalculated.

3. This ball is a bit like the Magic 8-ball produced in the 1940s, but a computerized, mathematical version.

After I uploaded the video to the internet, many people asked where they could buy one. This was an amusing result.

However, I do not intend to mass produce them as the program can be replaced with many different types of software. The most important thing was the learning and thought processes involved in its creation.

I thought it would be better to share this as an open-source project so that others can build on it—the fear of and curiosity about the unknown will always be a part of human nature.