Arduino 8 Conway’s Game of Life
I tried to cover a ton in this tutorial. I’ll show how to use LCD Panels with Arduino. I then live code Conway’s Game of Life using an Arduino and a LCD Panel. Along the way we’ll create custom characters, convert from binary to base 10, generate random arrays, copy arrays and a whole lot more. I hope these functions will be useful in numerous personal projects you may have.
All of the code and a transcript follows the video below.
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Code from the Video
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// ----- DEMONSTRATES HOW LCD PANELS WORK ----- // Used to work with the LCD display #include <LiquidCrystal.h> // Setup the display by designating the pins used LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2); // Will draw a heart on the LCD display // each number represents those leds lit on each row // 00011 = 3 which means the last 2 leds are on byte heart[8] = {0, 10, 31, 31, 31, 14, 4, 0}; void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); // State that the display has 2 rows with 16 // characters per row lcd.begin(16, 2); // Create the heart character lcd.createChar(0, heart); // Move the cursor into position on the 1st line lcd.setCursor(0, 0); // Print to the LCD lcd.print("I "); // Print the heart lcd.write(byte(0)); lcd.print(" LCDs"); } void loop() { } #include <LiquidCrystal.h> LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2); // Size we will use on the LCD panel const int maxRows = 16; const int maxCols = 20; // Equals (maxCols/5) * 2 const int numOfChars = (maxCols/5) * 2; /* Gameboard generated for 1 character looks like this 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 */ bool gameBoard[maxRows][maxCols] = {}; /* To print a character to the LCD we pass a number * that represents each row * This represents the character above 4, 24, 15, 24, 18, 18, 7, 21 */ byte golArray[numOfChars][8] = {}; // Will generate the values that go in the golArray // by adding the values in the binary value while // converting to base ten by multiplying versus // these values 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 int GetLEDRowValue(byte ledRow, byte maxColumn){ // Get the 1st columns index using the max as a guide int minColumn = maxColumn - 4; // Will hold the 5 digit value which represents which lights // to turn on for each row which makes up the character int ledValue = 0; // Each time through multiply times 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 to convert // from binary int multiplier = 1; // Cycle through each binary value and convert to base 10 for(int i = maxColumn; i >= minColumn; i--){ ledValue += (gameBoard[ledRow][i] * multiplier); multiplier *= 2; } return ledValue; } // Generate the 8 values that make up each character for each // row that will be printed to the LCD display void GenerateGolArray(){ // The max column is 4 because the indexes go from 0 - 4 // for each 5 digit line int maxCol = 4; for(int i = 0; i < numOfChars/2; i++){ for(int j = 0; j < 8; j++){ golArray[i][j] = GetLEDRowValue(j, maxCol); } // Jump to the next character to create maxCol += 5; } // Used for the 2nd row of characters to print maxCol = 4; for(int i = (numOfChars/2); i < numOfChars; i++){ for(int j = 0; j < 8; j++){ golArray[i][j] = GetLEDRowValue(j+(numOfChars/2), maxCol); } maxCol += 5; } } // Create an array of 1s and 0s void GenerateRandomArray(){ randomSeed(analogRead(0)); for(int a = 0; a < maxRows; a++){ for(int b = 0; b < maxCols; b++){ gameBoard[a][b] = random(0,2); } } } // Get the character data from the GOL array and print them // on the LCD panel void PrintChar(int charNum, int LCDCol, int LCDRow){ // Get pointer to the array holding the character // data array byte* temp = golArray[charNum]; // Create character with the character number // and the character array data lcd.createChar(charNum, temp); // Put cursor in the right row and column and print lcd.setCursor(LCDCol,LCDRow); lcd.write(byte(charNum)); } // Cycle through all characters to print on both rows of the LCD // and print them with PrintChar() void PrintToLCD(){ int startCol = 0; for(int i = 0; i < (numOfChars/2); i++){ // Print row 1 on LCD PrintChar(i, startCol, 0); // Print row 2 on LCD PrintChar(i + (numOfChars/2), startCol, 1); startCol++; } } // Make a copy of the array for updating the board void CopyArray(bool gameBoard2[maxRows][maxCols]){ for(int a =0; a < maxRows; a++) { for(int b = 0; b < maxCols; b++) { gameBoard2[a][b] = gameBoard[a][b]; } } } // Any living cell with < 2 neighbores dies // Any living cell with 2 or 3 neighbores lives // Any living cell with > 3 neighbores dies // A dead cell with exactly 3 neighbores is born void UpdateBoard(){ bool gameBoard2[maxRows][maxCols] = {}; // Make a copy of the array CopyArray(gameBoard2); // Cycle through the columns of the array down for(int a = 0; a < maxRows; a++) { // Cycle through the rows of the array across for(int b = 0; b < maxCols; b++) { // We assume the cell is dead int numOfTrues = 0; // Used to check the value above and below the cell for(int c = -1; c < 2; c++) { // Used to check the value to the left and right of the cell for(int d = -1; d < 2; d++) { // If we aren't checking the cell itself if(!(c == 0 && d == 0)) { // Each time their is a true on the top, bottom, // right and left of the cell increment numOfTrues if(gameBoard2[a+c][b+d]) { ++numOfTrues; } } } } // If their are less then 2 trues around the cell mark it as dead if(numOfTrues < 2){gameBoard[a][b] = false;} // If their is exactly 3 live cells mark it as alive else if(numOfTrues == 3){gameBoard[a][b] = true;} // If their are more then 3 live cells mark it as dead else if(numOfTrues > 3){gameBoard[a][b] = false;} } } } void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); lcd.begin(16, 2); GenerateRandomArray(); GenerateGolArray(); PrintToLCD(); } void loop() { delay(500); UpdateBoard(); GenerateGolArray(); PrintToLCD(); } |
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