This project solves the problem of locating friends after school. It started out as a paper tube with a cut out “M” covering it placed on a flashlight.  This would cast a shadow of the letter on the wall as a sort of signal that person “M” is around -- similar to the bat signal of the well-known character Batman.   

As different needs for the project came up, it evolved into a more compact and sophisticated laser system embedded in a 3D-printed case. Another thing that was necessary to add to the system was a button. It was put into the circuit with the laser wires. Another important thing to figure out was the size of the holes needed to place the lasers into. Many different sizes worked, but the project needed holes big enough so the lasers could be twisted, yet tight enough so that they would stay in place.

An Arduino microcontroller was added  to show how the project could be taken further  to produce dynamic symbols with moving parts, or even sequentially displayed letters.