This 200 Button Effects Wall Will Satisfy Your Button-Mashing Compulsions

For reasons that neither science nor religion can answer, we humans simply cannot resist the compulsion to push a big shiny button. That’s especially true for children, so when Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center needed an interactive exhibit they turned to the humble button. And not just a couple of buttons—200 of them, all triggering unique effects.

Doug of DJDAudio was tasked with building the exhibit, and started by mounting 200 large LED-lit arcade buttons onto a birch plywood enclosure. Those buttons are grouped into 20 columns of 10, and each group is connected to an Arduino Nano. Those 10 Nanos then interface with an 11th master control Arduino via I2C. That keeps track of what buttons are being pressed, and triggers the various effects.

Those effects fit into roughly three categories — sounds, lights, and physical effects — and are handled by multiple Adafruit Music Maker MP3 Arduino shields, with separate boards for different zones within the science center. Another Arduino Uno shield acts as a DMX controller for the lighting system. Finally, eight relay switches are used to trigger devices like a bubble-maker and a ball release.

As you can see in the video, the various effects are imaginative, and are sure to keep the kids pushing buttons for hours!