11

Alexa-controlled wheel of fortune

FORGE

void loop()

{

fauxmo.handle();

if (spinning){

delay(500+random(2500));

servo.write(90);

spinning=false;

}

}

The actual detection of the command to spin is

handled by a callback in the setup block. The code to

spin the wheel is also fairly straightforward. We just

start the servo spinning and set the spinning variable

to true. This way the servo will keep turning until it is

switched off.

void callback(uint8_t device_id, const char *

device_name, bool state)

{

if (state)

{

servo.write(0);

spinning = true;

}

}

ALEXA! SET UP MY CODE

We need to configure Alexa to work with our wheel

of fortune.

Make sure you have completed all the above steps,

uploaded the fortune wheel code to your ESP8266,

and that it is powered on. Using your Alexa app, go to

Smart Home in the menu, and click Add Device. The

device name you provided in your code should appear.

You should now be able to manually switch the device

on and off by clicking on it. The WeMo devices we

are emulating are typically appliance sockets or

lamps, so can turn both on and off. Our code

only needs to detect it turning on, but that does

mean you have to turn the device off first before

turning it on again. Don’t worry, we’ll hide all

this away in a routine in the next step.

CREATING A ROUTINE

The final stage is to automate the spinning in

Alexa. Go to Routines in the menu, and add a new

routine. You can get creative here. I used ‘spin the

wheel’ for voice prompt in the WHEN section. You

then have to turn on and turn off the device (fortune

in my case), and lastly you can get Alexa to say

something whilst spinning! I went with, “Where it

stops, nobody knows”.

All that is left is to test and spin. I came up with a

game with my daughter where we both spun it three

times and then used our imagination to come up with

a fortune from the three words chosen. Just hope

you don’t get ‘DOOM’ three times...

Left

Reverse of wheel,

showing servo horn

glued in place

TAKING IT FURTHER

One thing missing from our design is the classic

clicker sound of wheels of fortune. You could put a pin

in each section and have a clacker mounted on the

edge that hits each of these in turn.

There is a handy

guide to the

ESP8266 pins

at: hsmag.cc/

YAJOAW

QUICK TIP

Below

Adding the device

in Alexa (left)

and creating the

routine (right)