The Uncertain 7-Cube
Nick Poole 
Magic Isn't Real
It’s sad but true. We can’t levitate, we can’t teleport and we definitely can’t see the future. That last bit makes the so-called “Magic 8-Ball” especially sinister. There’s nothing magical about randomly answering a yes or no question. Knowing that, the only responsible thing to do is to build a better, more honest, fortune telling device for the enlightened age. I present to you: The Uncertain 7-Cube.
The Uncertain 7-Cube is a non-committal, less-than-helpful, but also entirely honest fortune teller. Simply ask it a yes or no question, give it a nudge, and the 7-Cube will dutifully inform you that it doesn’t have all the facts and doesn’t feel comfortable making a guess. That’s right, in a variety of voices and a multitude of responses, the Uncertain 7-Cube will preserve your sense of responsibility for the future by refusing to make your decisions for you!
To make this happen we’ll need a few things:
- Parallax Emic2 Text-to-Speech Module
- Arduino Pro Mini 5V
- 2” Square ProtoBoard
- Mono Audio Amp Breakout
- Thin Speaker
- Power Cell LiPo Charger/Booster
- 1000mAh Polymer Lithium Ion Battery
- Wake-on-Shake Board
- FTDI Basic Breakout 5V
- Some Male Right Angle and Female Headers
- Some Kind of Enclosure (I used acrylic)
- A Soldering Iron and Some Solder