Acrab
Acrab: Application for Constellation Remote Controlling Assistance on Browser
Astronomy Club of the University of Tokyo makes and exhibits a DIY planetarium every year. Since the planetarium projectors rotate according to the diurnal motion, so they are switched on/off wirelessly.
I developed Acrab, a wireless projector console for PC. "Acrab" is an acronym for "Application for Constellation Remote Controlling Assistance on Browser" and is also the proper name of β Scorpii star.
Instead of C#/.NET, which had been used in previous console applications in the Astronomy Club, I utilized JavaScript for Acrab. With web design techniques, I could make the user interface clear and intuitive. In particular, I used a red-based color scheme because it is necessary to minimize the brightness of the screen during the planetarium shows.
In our planetarium, the projectors are switched on and off according to the commentaries. Acrab is capable of reading scenario files written in JSON and automatically adapts the projectors to the scene by simply pressing one button. Acrab greatly reduces the developer's workload as it can support multiple commentary scenarios by replacing the scenario files.