The Notebook

Project: Dice

I ran across this project for a single 6-sided die at the Electronics Club website and I was intrigued by their use of a grouped logic for presenting the results. I wanted to use my Duemilanova for both the randomizer and the LED driver though. Here are my results.

The first step was to set up the breadboard circuit. I'm using a solderless breadboard so I ended up with the seven pips on a diagonal.



The logic of the circuit is this: every time an odd number is rolled on a die, the center pip is included. Every number other than one has pairs of pips showing, with or without the center.

So the center has a pin to itself (13), and the other pips are paired by the white jumpers. Each pair gets a pin, which allows me to represent 6 (actually 7) numbers using 4 pins -- and no decoder.

My first sketch computes a random number (using pin 0 as a seed as suggested in the randomize() documentation) from 1 to 6, turns on the appropriate pips, waits a second, then does it again.

Here's video:



And here's the sketch:

/*
 Die

computes a random number from 1 to 6 and displays it using 7 LEDs as a die face

The circuit:
* LED connected from digital pin 13 to ground.
* 2 LEDs in serial connected from digital pin 12 to ground. (2s place)
* 2 LEDs in serial connected from digital pin 11 to ground. (4s place)
* 2 LEDs in serial connected from digital pin 10 to ground. (6s place)


Created 26 Dec 2009
By Anne Speck

*/

int die1; // container for current value of die1 (possible future expansion)
int basket; // variable for processing die values

int ledPin13 =  13;    // LED connected to digital pin 13
int ledPin12 =  12;    // 2 LEDs connected to digital pin 12
int ledPin11 =  11;    // 2 LEDs connected to digital pin 11
int ledPin10 =  10;    // 2 LEDs connected to digital pin 10

int one = LOW;
int two = LOW;
int four = LOW;
int six =LOW;

// The setup() method runs once, when the sketch starts

void setup()   {              
 // initialize the digital pin as an output:
 pinMode(ledPin13, OUTPUT);   
 pinMode(ledPin12, OUTPUT);   
 pinMode(ledPin11, OUTPUT);   
 pinMode(ledPin10, OUTPUT);

 //use serial output for debugging
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

// the loop() method runs over and over again,
// as long as the Arduino has power

void loop()                   
{
 // generate random number
   // if analog input pin 0 is unconnected, random analog
 // noise will cause the call to randomSeed() to generate
 // different seed numbers each time the sketch runs.
 // randomSeed() will then shuffle the random function.
  randomSeed(analogRead(0));
  die1 = random(1, 7);


 // translate number into pins for display
 basket = die1;
 if (basket%2) {
   //If there's a modulo, this is an odd number.
   basket--;
   one=HIGH;
 }
 if (basket == 6) {
   //If six, turn on sixes place and subtract two
   basket--;
   basket--;
   six=HIGH;
 }
 if (basket == 4) {
   //If four, turn on fours place and subtract two
   basket--;
   basket--;
   four=HIGH;
 }
 if (basket == 2) {
   //If this has a value it's two.
   basket=0;
   two=HIGH;
 }


 digitalWrite(ledPin13, one);   // set the LED on
 digitalWrite(ledPin12, two);   // set the LED on
 digitalWrite(ledPin11, four);   // set the LED on
 digitalWrite(ledPin10, six);   // set the LED on

 //serial output for debugging
  Serial.print("The number is: ");
  Serial.println(die1);
  Serial.print(one);
  Serial.print(two);
  Serial.print(four);
  Serial.println(six);


 delay(1000);                  // wait for a second

 //Reset all pins
 one = LOW;
 two = LOW;
 four = LOW;
 six =LOW;

}

Labels: arduino, circuit, ee, project, sketch, video

posted by Anne @ 9:16 AM