JURNAL ARDUINO: Mouse Controlling Arduino LEDs

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Mouse Controlling Arduino LEDs

Use a mouse to control LEDs attached to an Arduino. This project uses the processing language to transmit the mouse coordinates to the Arduino, which then uses this information to turn on some LEDs. Please see the video below to see it in action.

Components Required for this project:

Arduino UNO
Breadboard
9 LEDs
9 x 330 ohm resistors
Wires to connect the circuit
USB connection cable: to connect the computer to the Arduino
A computer: to run the processing sketch, and to compile / upload the Arduino sketch
Processing Program installed on computer
Arduino Program installed on the computer

Arduino Sketch

This was made using Fritzing.

Arduino Code

You can download the Arduino IDE from this site.

/* This program was created by ScottC on 9/5/2012 to receive serial 
signals from a computer to turn on/off  1-9 LEDs */

void setup() {                
  // initialize the digital pins as an output.
  pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(7, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
// Turn the Serial Protocol ON
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  byte byteRead;

   /*  check if data has been sent from the computer: */
  if (Serial.available()) {
  
    /* read the most recent byte */
    byteRead = Serial.read();
    //You have to subtract '0' from the read Byte to convert from text to a number.
    byteRead=byteRead-'0';
    
    //Turn off all LEDS
    for(int i=2; i<11; i++){
      digitalWrite(i, LOW);
    }
    
    if(byteRead>0){
      //Turn on the relevant LEDs
      for(int i=1; i<(byteRead+1); i++){
        digitalWrite(i+1, HIGH);
      }
    }
  }
}

The code above was formatted using this site.

Processing Code

You can download the Processing IDE from this site.

//Created by ScottC on 12/05/2012 to send mouse coordinates to Arduino

import processing.serial.*;

// Global variables
int new_sX, old_sX;
int nX, nY;
Serial myPort;

// Setup the Processing Canvas
void setup(){
  size( 800, 400 );
  strokeWeight( 10 );
 
  //Open the serial port for communication with the Arduino
  //Make sure the COM port is correct
  myPort = new Serial(this, "COM6", 9600);
  myPort.bufferUntil('\n'); 
}

// Draw the Window on the computer screen
void draw(){
  
  // Fill canvas grey
  background( 100 );
    
  // Set the stroke colour to white
  stroke(255); 
  
  // Draw a circle at the mouse location
  ellipse( nX, nY, 10, 10 );

  //Draw Line from the top of the page to the bottom of the page
  //in line with the mouse.
  line(nX,0,nX,height);  
}


// Get the new mouse location and send it to the arduino
void mouseMoved(){
  nX = mouseX;
  nY = mouseY; 
  
  //map the mouse x coordinates to the LEDs on the Arduino.
  new_sX=(int)map(nX,0,800,0,10);

  if(new_sX==old_sX){
    //do nothing
  } else {
    //only send values to the Arduino when the new X coordinates are different.
    old_sX = new_sX;
    myPort.write(""+new_sX);
  }
}