Published April 4, 2023

Arcade Style Logic Sandbox

This project aims to create an interactive and engaging educational demonstration of logic gates to a younger audience.

IntermediateFull instructions provided218

Things used in this project

Hardware components

LED Strip, NeoPixel Digital RGB

BeagleBoard.org PocketBeagle

Adafruit Arcade Button

Jumper wires (generic)

SparkFun Level Shifter Board

Breadboard (generic)

Story

In today's increasingly computational world, it is important to educate young learners about digital logic and its applications. However, there are two main challenges when it comes to teaching a young audience about logic using existing solutions -- (1) Digital logic is an abstract concept, and there needs to be a way to better represent it in an east-to-understand fashion; (2) Existing education solutions are heavily mathematical and rely mostly on computer software. There lacks a hands on component, which has been proven to be beneficial in learning. This project aims to create a building block to a solution to this problem by creating an arcade style logic gate sandbox that employs the hands-on approach as well as a multimodel learning experience (with both visual and auditory feedback, provided by an led strip and a speaker respectively).

Figure 1. Logic Sandbox Prototype

The interactive portion of the sandbox contains three arcade buttons, and an led strip. The buttons are secured with the quick-turn knobs while the leds are secured with tape. The LED strips had to modified to fit the shape of the logic table and the size of the box. This was done by soldering individual strips together and organizing wires with the help of some wire connectors.

Figure 2. Internal Wiring

The enclosure of the electronics was based on a file generated using makeabox.io The cut outs for the logic table as well as the slots for the led strip were added using Adobe Illustrator. We also added a cutout on the right side of the box to route the wires out. A screenshot of the enclosure design can be found below, and you can also find the pdf file linked in this document.

Figure 3. Screenshot of the 2D Design of the electronics enclosure

The enclosure is made of a sheet of 1/4" thick plywood and fabricated using an Epilog laser cutter. it is important to make sure the lens of the laser cutter is clean and that the speed is set properly. Otherwise, the quality of the cut will be low and the piece may snap easily, as shown below. However, this mistake was corrected in the final prototype shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4. Snapped enclosure piece fabricated under incorrect speed setting

Finally, with the completed software drivers and properly prepped hardware, we integrated the system. The demo goes:

1. When the software is launched, it will run through a start-up routine to check the ocnnectivity of the string led -- each light will light up to a soft white color sequentially.

2. The user will be prompted to press and hold the red button. Upon press, the first row of the logic table should turn on in red and stay on until other buttons are pressed.

3. The user will be pressing the blue and green buttons, which correspond to the x input and the y input respectively. When the blue button is pressed, setting the x input to be 1, the second row of the logic table will light up, demonstrating the x, y, and z values in an AND gate with x = 1 and y = 0. Similarly, when the green button is pressed, setting the y input to be 1, the third row of the logic table will light up, demonstrating the x, y, and z values in an AND gate with x = 0, y = 1.

4. Finally, if the user presses both the blue and the green buttons simultaneously, setting both the x input and the y input to be 1, the last row of the logic table will light up in green.

5. At the end of the demo, the sandbox will run through a finish-up routine, lighting each light up to a soft purple color.

A video demo can be found below

Schematics

Code

Driver

"""
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arcade Style Logic Sandbox Demo Driver 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
License:   
Copyright 2023 Doris Xu

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this 
list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, 
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation 
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors 
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without 
specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" 
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE 
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR 
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER 
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, 
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE 
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandbox Driver
  This driver integrates 
  
  This driver contains functions for three arcade buttons that have a pull up resistor between the
button and the processor pin (i.e. the input is "High"/"1" when the button is
not pressed) and will be connected to ground when the button is pressed (i.e. 
the input is "Low" / "0" when the button is pressed)

Software API:

  Button(pin)
    - Provide pin that the button monitors

  LED_Strip(id)
    - Provide id of the LED that is being addressed 
    
The demo will first run a start-up routine to check the connecticity of the led strip
Then it will dim all the lights 
The user will press the red arcade button to start the demo
    - By starting the demo, the user is setting the x and y inputs to 0
The user can then interact with the demo by pressing different buttons
    - The blue button corresponds to the input x 
    - The green button corresponds to the input y 
Corresponding lights (green signifies 1 and red signifies 0) will light up in the logic table 
    as the buttons are pressed 
To finish the demo, the user will press the red button again, and the demo will run through a
game finish up routine -- all the lights will turn on one at a time, to a soft purple color
"""

import led_strip as led
import arcade_button as button
import time
import time
import sys 
import os

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Initialization
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # set up buttons
green_button = button.Button("P2_2")
blue_button = button.Button("P2_4")
red_button = button.Button("P2_6")
    
    # set up the led strip 
strip = led.led_strip()

    # set up the logic table led IDs
logic_table_row1_ids = [44, 45, 46]
logic_table_row2_ids = [47, 48, 49]
logic_table_row3_ids = [50, 51, 52]
logic_table_row4_ids = [53, 54, 55]

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Initialize the board
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # light up the entire led strip in order to check all the lights 
strip.device_start_up_routine()
strip.black_out_all_leds()
'''
The author of this class realized that the OPC driver is one command behind
As a consequence of that, the last line of the program will not execute 
To address this issue and make sure all the commands are executed, the last command of 
each function is repeated twice 
'''
strip.black_out_all_leds()

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# The game routine
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    # ask the player to start the game 
print("Is the red button pressed?")
print("    {0}".format(red_button.is_pressed()))

print("Press and hold the red button.")

while not red_button.is_pressed():
    time.sleep(0.1)

# set the initial logic table state -- x = 0, y = 0, z = 0
# set the 1st row led lights 
strip.red_light(44)
strip.red_light(45)
strip.red_light(46)
# if the opc driveris one command behind, make sure all the lights still turn on 
strip.red_light(46)


'''
Demonstrate the AND gate -- x = 1, y = 0, z = 0
'''

print("Press and Hold the Blue Button")

while not blue_button.is_pressed():
    time.sleep(0.1)
    
# reset all led lights 
strip.black_out_all_leds()
# set the 2nd row led lights 
strip.green_light(47)
strip.red_light(48)
strip.red_light(49)
# if the opc driveris one command behind, make sure all the lights still turn on 
strip.red_light(49)


'''
Demonstrate the AND gate -- x = 0, y = 1, z = 0
'''

print("Press and Hold the Green Button")

while not green_button.is_pressed():
    time.sleep(0.1)

# reset all led lights 
strip.black_out_all_leds()
# set the 3rd row led lights 
strip.red_light(50)
strip.green_light(51)
strip.red_light(52)
# if the opc driveris one command behind, make sure all the lights still turn on 
strip.red_light(52)


'''
Demonstrate the AND gate -- x = 1, y = 1, z = 1
'''
print("Press and Hold BOTH Blue and Green Buttons")

while not (green_button.is_pressed() and  blue_button.is_pressed()):
    time.sleep(0.1)

# reset all led lights 
strip.black_out_all_leds()
# set the 4th row led lights 
strip.green_light(53)
strip.green_light(54)
strip.green_light(55)
strip.green_light(55) # to make sure the last light lights up

print("Press and Hold Red Button to Finish")
while not red_button.is_pressed():
    time.sleep(0.1)
strip.game_finish_up_routine()

print("Demo Completed!")
time.sleep(1)
os.system("mplayer file_example_MP3_700KB.mp3")
print("Congratulations!")

# reset the led strip at the end of the demonstration 
strip.black_out_all_leds()
strip.black_out_all_leds()

Arcade Style Logic Sandbox

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

Custom parts and enclosures

Sandbox Enclosure Design

Schematics

Breadboard circuit picture

Code

Driver

Sandbox Driver Code

Credits

Doris Xu

Comments

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Arcade Style Logic Sandbox

Arcade Style Logic Sandbox

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

Custom parts and enclosures

Sandbox Enclosure Design

Schematics

Breadboard circuit picture

Code

Driver

Sandbox Driver Code

Credits

Doris Xu

Comments

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