Custom Embedded Scoreboard
June 2020 - August 2020
Overview
During the summer between my junior and senior years of college I wanted to challenge my technical
skills and build an embedded system from the ground up. At the time my little brother was interested
in scoreboards which seemed like the perfect project for me.
Using parts from a scrapped old tv and my 3D printer I designed the outer frame of the scoreboard.
Large seven-segment displays were too expensive to buy so I built those as well. I found a design on
Thingiverse that I modified to fit my application. Each segment of the seven-segment display
consisted of 2 red LED’s cut at the top so the light would diffuse better. On top of the scoreboard
are 7 buttons used for controlling lights and timer as well as an IR receiver for a cheap remote to
control the different functions of the scoreboard as well. A speaker from the scrapped tv is also
inside and used as a buzzer. Everything is controlled by an Arduino Uno. Wiring everything in a
tight space was difficult but doable.
Things I Learned and Skills Developed
Building this from the ground up was a challenge but taught me good design and development skills as I needed to think ahead as I designed or wired each part. It was great to implement everything I learned in my embedded systems course as I planned and wrote robust code to handle each additional functionality. Even now I as review my code for this post two years later, the code is easy for me to follow and review.
