Lumino - an arduino input device

Hi readers!

I'm here to share with you an experiment I've been having fun these days.

While I was playing DOTuino, I found out that I could use a light sensor to make my personal and unique "joystick".

Using my hand to change the light intensity over the sensors I could create some kind of interesting input.

Once I came up with the idea, developing a circuit to achieve it was really simple. All I needed was 2 light sensors (LDR), a couple of wires and an arduino.

For a while, I winged it with some pasta box. Anyone there with a 3d printer? =P

Just before making the little holes (for the sensors)

Usb connection

In order to test its responsiveness in a real application, I made a simple game with python + pygame.

Below, a video recorded with my brother.

Actually, while the hand comes closer to the sensor, the light variation is smoother than the presented in this game, which I deliberately made it detect just 3 states.

If you liked the idea and wanna try this at home or contribute, it's all open source.
Below, links with code:

• lumino (arduino code + experimental python driver);
• lumino-projects (sample code using the above python driver, including the game featured in the video).

Hope you liked it!

Feel free to leave comments to this post!

Ronald Kaiser

DOTuino - an arduino game

Hello readers!
Today I finished DOTuino, a minimalist space game for arduino. It was a wonderful experience -- making a minimalist console by myself. I recommend it for you 2!

In order to accomplish the job I gathered the following components:

• an lcd display (16 columns x 2 lines);
• a potentiometer (to adjust the lcd contrast);
• a push button (a minimalist joystick);
• a bunch of wires;
• 2 resistors (1 for the push button and 1 for the lcd backlight);
• of course, an arduino.

The low level connections are relatively straightforward for those already initiated in arduino projects. No eletronics gotchas. Nevertheless, if you decided to try this at home and got any problems, do not hesitate in contacting me. 

Below, the game running!

Source code is available at github, use at your own peril, =P
And feel free to contribute!

Till the next post!

Cheers,
Ronald Kaiser