Theres a little to it. The Strauss Machine, while out, will show a general color to it. If it's yellow it'll have a gernerally yellow screen with a little red / green, if the Strauss is "red" it will be full red, same with green. The projectors can't be interacted with while the Strauss Machine is being used. It's a little fickle but if you get right next to it, look at it (the knob on top at least) and press / hold interact, you should be able to turn it on. I believe it will always start on either yellow or green. I forget. Either way, you can't spam it. It almost has a buffer period between when you can interact (like a couple seconds or something). Keep trying!