Wowcube

WOWCube is a cube consisting of eight stand-alone modules, together having 24 displays, and rotating like a Rubik's cube. Magnetic connections provide a continuous flow of information between autonomous modules, providing unhindered gameplay. Several games have been developed for WOWCube, including: puzzles , logic , puzzles , Scrabble , arcades , mazes . WOWCube provides a mixed reality gaming experience that combines torsion, shaking in the material world with digital actions visualized on 24-square cube sub-displays ^[12] .

WOWCube combines the properties of physical gadgets, such as toys for rotation in the hands: dynamic toys (such as Spinner ), with digital game consoles in one device ^{[2] [8] [13]} .

The device consists of eight identical sections that exchange data through groups of magnetic contacts ^[14] , which, in addition to the communication function, provide a stable position of the structure, which makes it possible to observe the game process on common faces composed of their screens of four neighboring sections.

Each of the eight sections contains:

• 3 IPS TFT screens with a diagonal of 1.56 "and a resolution of 240x240 pixels, protected by Gorilla Glass;
• STM32F405 microcontroller (clock frequency 168 MHz, 192 kB RAM);
• 8 MB Flash memory ;
• 6-axis gyroscope and accelerometer ;
• Battery capacity 540mA / h;
• Bluetooth module for communication with a smartphone or tablet.

In the current version, the dimensions of the device are 76x76x76mm and weight is 400 grams. The case is made of ABS plastic

• At the Makers Fair in May 2018 and Santa Clara , California , WOWCube was marked as the Editors' Choice project ^[15] .
• At the conference and startup competition SVOD'18 held at the Museum of Computer History , WOWCube received the first prize "Audience Choice" ^[16] .
• World Technology Award , 2018 - "Finalist" in the "IT Hardware" category ^[17] .

The WOWCube console uses FreeRTOS as an operating system, as well as an abstract Pawn machine for interpreting P-code, which allows executing pre-compiled game logic both on the console and in its software emulator. WOWCube SDK contains a software emulator that allows you to run developed games on a PC without having a real console. All WOWCube software components are available under open licenses such as MIT , BSD, and Apache License .

The WOWCube SDK includes a software emulator that allows you to develop software without the developer having a real WOWCube console. Currently supported operating systems are Windows and MacOS. The emulator is built on the basis of the following free open source software:

• Processing language - used for 3D visualization of the game console, loading and displaying resources (pictures) of games, as well as transmitting events (rotation of blocks, impact on the accelerometer) from the user to the logic written in Pawn. In a real WOWCube, instead of Processing, the C language is used. The API for interacting with the Pawn language is the same for both the real WOWCube console and the software emulator.

• Pawn language - used to write game logic . The game logic responds to events from a real WOWCube console or from an emulator, sending in turn a queue of commands to visualize changes in the game scene.
• Integrated development environment Visual Studio Code - used to edit the code of games in the Pawn language and run them on a software emulator. It is also possible to edit the WOWCube 3D visualizer code written in Processing.

• Siftable (commercial name Sifteo ) developed in the MIT Media Lab - interactive modular devices ( cubes ) that can reproduce graphic images, determine the nature of their own position in space and interact with other modules. Interaction with cubes occurs when they are combined, tilted, shaken, rotated: each Siftable “cube” is equipped with a color display, infrared ports are available on four sides of the device (for communication with other modules), a Bluetooth module is used to communicate with the computer, for storing images and other data uses flash memory , there is an accelerometer to track movement along three axes, shake, tilt and other changes in its spatial position) ^[18]
• GoCube is an electronic version of the Rubik's Cube, presented by an independent development team from Tel Aviv ( Israel ), it is a sports gadget connected via BlueTooth to a smartphone or tablet and allowing users to compete in assembly speed or learn through additional information on the display. ^[nineteen]

• 2x2x2 Larry Nichols Magnetic Puzzle - Created 1970 ^[20]
• Rubik's Cube - invented in 1974 ^[21]
• Puzzle
• Game console
• Pawn programming language with syntax similar to C language