Announcing the Gizmo Garden libraries for Arduino

[gizmogarden]

Announcing the Gizmo Garden libraries for Arduino.
Ideal for the Uno and Adafruit accessories.

• Powerful cooperative multitasking, very easy to use.
• Extensible menu system using Adafruit LCD shields.
  • Monitor changing values, examine and set parameters, take actions.
  • Easy to add menu items.
  • Runs with with the multitasking library.
• Jitter-free servo control, Adafruit NeoPixel compatible
  • Control up to a dozen servos on any pins.
  • Interrupt-driven, runs in the background.
  • Eliminates the jitter present with the standard Arduino servo library that is caused by interrupt latency.
  • Control hundreds of Adafruit NeoPixels with no servo interference.
  • Drop-in replacement for the Arduino servo library.
• Libraries that run with the multitasking library.
  • Play music on a piezo buzzer by writing text strings using conventional musical terminology.
  • Indicate small integer values by flashing a single LED.
  • Choreograph the motion of a positioning servo.
[/*]

Source code available at https://github.com/GizmoBill/GizmoGarden_Arduino and made available at no charge under the GNU General Public License.

For information about Gizmo Garden, visit our website http://gizmogarden.org/

[gizmogarden]

If you’d like to see the gizmo parade we made with the Gizmo Garden libraries and our Adafruit accessories, check out this 30-second clip. It starts at 11:36 in a 14-minute video preview of our 2106 program; you can watch the whole thing if you want, or just the 30-second parade.

Each gizmo is built on a Parallax robot, to which we add a pair of LEDs and phototransistors to detect the road, a proximity sensor to detect the robot in front, and an LCD shield to make a “dashboard”. On top of this basic self-driving design we add electro-artistic elements to make a parade float.

Each gizmo is doing many things simultaneously, under control of the multitasking library. Each gizmo has separate tasks that

• Use the proximity sensor to control speed so as to maintain the proper distance behind the float in front.
• Use the road sensors to steer.
• Run the menus.
• Display status information on the dashboard.

Each gizmo uses other tasks to create a theme:

• The air traffic control gizmo spins a radar dish outlined in EL wire, passing signals and power through a slipring, and synchronizing the display on the 8x8 LED backpack with the rotation of the dish.
• Piano man taps the keyboard with a Mini Pan-Tilt kit, lights up the keys with NeoPixels, and plays music.
• Wimbledon swings EL-outlined tennis racquets with micro servos, moves the ball with NeoPixels, and makes ball sounds with a piezo buzzer.
• The rowboat uses a continuous rotation servo to animate the mechanical rowing, and plays music.
• Penelope (our favorite) does the Hokey Pokey. Watch her spin and then find the road again!

And keep in mind that all this is happening while driving on the road, on a little Arduino Uno!