This children’s console looks like something straight out of a superhero’s lair

Kids have wonderful imaginations, and to help students at a primary school have a super time, creator “palladin” was asked to construct a console for them to use.

The device features a variety of lights and sci-fi additions, including glowing “reactor” tubes that diffuse light using hair gel and a “memory bank” that emits flashing patterns for a 1950s supercomputer look.

An emergency tracking map blinks randomly via an Arduino Nano, with a possible 18 LED hot spots available per the board’s I/O pins. A palm scanner, described separately here, activates rows of LEDs in sequence using another Arduino. The scanning process is triggered by a light-dependent resistor and voltage divider setup – denying access to any potential bad guys!