The library

Here is a picture of the library contents:

And now the only thing left is to zip up the library folder and import it into the Arduino IDE. Use whatever program you want to zip up the BlinkMe folder, and note the location of the zip file. You need to import the zip file into the Arduino IDE:

• Arduino IDE > Sketch > Include Library > Add .ZIP Library...
• Select the library zip file you just created, and select "Open".
• You can now use your library in the Arduino IDE.
• Test it by running your example sketch: File > Examples > BlinkMe > blinkTest

Download

Riding a bicycle can be a great way to get around, and/or even to get some needed exercise. When you mix in automobile or foot traffic, though, things get a bit more complicated. This could be blamed, in part, on the fact that bikes don’t have the same running lights, turn or brake signals as motorized vehicles. 

To address this problem, BLINK!’s patented Integrated Lighting System (iLS) has been designed to provide a visible communication solution that’s easily understandable by other road users. 

This custom saddle—which was prototyped using an ATmega328P-based Arduino— features lighting for 270º visibility, and brightens automatically for braking when deceleration is detected. In addition, iLS includes a pair of remotely activated turn signals. This allows the rider to indicate direction changes without removing his or her hand from the handlebars to awkwardly point. 

BLINK! has been embedded into a wide range of saddles and installation should be fairly straightforward. Not only will it certainly help enhance road safety, iLS will look fantastic while doing so.

We never rest, even during summer, to serve our community and we announce today that we’ve refreshed over 150 example pages and redesigned the Examples area, offering an updated support to the current Arduino Software (IDE) Built-in and Libraries examples

Our website is a living entity that everyday hosts a huge number of visitors. They are looking for software, information, guidelines, ideas and also the right tutorial to start tinkering with their new board on a specific issue or project.

The Reference is the place where everything is documented and explained, with dry and essential information that is also included locally with every Arduino Software (IDE) installation.

Our software also includes a number of built-in sketches that help our users to quickly understand how the various functions and libraries may be used and applied to specific projects and tasks. We all started with the famous Blink and at the end of this tutorial we all felt the power and the excitement of having tamed our board with the upload of our first sketch. Keeping all these examples in good shape and updated is essential to keep you users safe from troubles or difficulties.

These examples evolve, as the libraries also evolve, therefore the sketches may be updated, amended or added. Each of these examples is commented and has an introductory part that gives a description of the purpose of the sketch and – if necessary – the instructions to put together the circuit. We know that the information provided inside the IDE and the sketches is not enough and therefore we made an area of our website where each sketch is explained and documented.

Year after year, board after board and library after library, many “hands” contributed to this area, filling gaps and amending things to reflect the Arduino Software (IDE) status. It has been an ongoing process that inevitably brought the Tutorials area in a state where many styles and ways of explaining things merged. We have big plans for our www.arduino.cc website and it is important to clean and fix the existing areas before we add new contents. This is why my first task – as editorial manager – has been the refresh and overall alignment of our Examples and Examples from Libraries pages.

We have roughly 150 pages documenting our Examples for the current products and libraries and going through them all wasn’t exactly a piece of cake: many things were checked for each example and sometimes things were outdated or missing. We also have our sister brand Genuino that got its space in all the relevant example pages. Now contents, style, look and feel and links in this area are ready for new and fresh developments.

I would like to end this post adding that this task was also a very good opportunity to refresh my knowledge about the powerful capabilities of Arduino programming language and its libraries. I had a few doubts on how to do a few things in my own sketches and going through all the examples gave me the hints I was missing.

The plain list of examples available in the Arduino Software (IDE) is just made of the sketch names, conversely in our pages you find a brief description of each of them. I suggest that you wander through these descriptions: let them excite your curiosity and inspire you!

[Chipsy] found himself with an interesting problem. The room that serves his home theater has a wall mirror which reflects part of the screen during viewing. In an otherwise dark room this was very distracting. His solution was to add a blind that covers the mirror during viewing, but who wants to constantly pull that down and back up again? Since the motorized projection screen he is using has a remote control he figured out a way to motorize the blind and synchronize it with the screen’s remote.

The screen uses mechanical relays to switch the motor. He patched into these with an Arduino to detect whether the screen was going up or down. It was easy enough to use his own relay and motor with the blind, but he needed a way to stop the blind once it was in position. For covering up the mirror he simply sets an 18 second timer, but for retracting the blind he wanted precise alignment so he added a magnet and sense its position with a reed switch. See the synchronized screen and blind in the clip after the break.

In addition to being a great replacement for that aging eye patch, these specs act as a light switch. By watching your eyelids, they are able to kill the lights whenever you blink.

The installation is a shared experience piece conceived by [Michal Kohút]. He wanted to illustrate the constant blinking we all do but rarely think about. The system uses an Arduino to capture events from the blink sensors and switch the lights accordingly. This way the wearer doesn’t experience a loss of illumination, but the observer does. Check out the video after the break for a quick demonstration.

One of the commenters from the source article shared a video link to another blink-based light project. That one uses electrodes attached to skin around your eye in order to detect eyelid motion.

[via Reddit]

Components Required

• 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
• A comma separated text file (*.txt).

Arduino Layout

The Text File

• Open Notepad or equivalent text file editor, and paste the following data into it.

• Save the file on your hard drive. In my case, I have chosen to save the file at this location.

• It should look like the following screenshot

• Just remember what you call it, and where you saved it, because we will be referring to this file later on in the Processing script.
• Keep all values on the same line.
• Separate each number with a comma.
• The number 1 will blink the first LED which is attached to Pin 2 on the Arduino.
• The number 9 will blink the last LED which is attached to Pin 10 on the Arduino.

Processing Code

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style="color: blue;">import processing.serial.*;

style="color: blue;">import java.io.*;

style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">int mySwitch=0;

style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">int counter=0;
String [] subtext;
Serial myPort;



style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void setup(){
 
style="color: green;">//Create a switch that will control the frequency of text file reads.
 
style="color: green;">//When mySwitch=1, the program is setup to read the text file.
 
style="color: green;">//This is turned off when mySwitch = 0
 mySwitch=1;
 
 
style="color: green;">//Open the serial port for communication with the Arduino
 
style="color: green;">//Make sure the COM port is correct
 myPort = 
style="color: blue;">new Serial(this, 
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">"COM6", 9600);
 myPort.bufferUntil(
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">'\n');
}


style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void draw() {
 
style="color: blue;">if (mySwitch>0){
 
style="color: green;">/*The readData function can be found later in the code.

style="color: green;"> This is the call to read a CSV file on the computer hard-drive. */
 readData(
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">"D:/mySensorData.txt");
 
 
style="color: green;">/*The following switch prevents continuous reading of the text file, until

style="color: green;"> we are ready to read the file again. */
 mySwitch=0;
 }
 
style="color: green;">/*Only send new data. This IF statement will allow new data to be sent to

style="color: green;"> the arduino. */
 
style="color: blue;">if(counter<subtext.length){
 
style="color: green;">/* Write the next number to the Serial port and send it to the Arduino 

style="color: green;"> There will be a delay of half a second before the command is

style="color: green;"> sent to turn the LED off : myPort.write('0'); */
 myPort.write(subtext[counter]);
 delay(500);
 myPort.write(
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">'0');
 delay(100);
 
style="color: green;">//Increment the counter so that the next number is sent to the arduino.
 counter++;
 } 
style="color: blue;">else{
 //If the text file has run out of numbers, then read the text file again in 5 seconds.
 delay(5000);
 mySwitch=1;
 }
} 



style="color: green;">/* The following function will read from a CSV or TXT file */

style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void readData(String myFileName){
 
 File file=
style="color: blue;">new File(myFileName);
 BufferedReader br=
style="color: blue;">null;
 
 try{
 br=
style="color: blue;">new BufferedReader(
style="color: blue;">new FileReader(file));
 String text=
style="color: blue;">null;
 
 
style="color: green;">/* keep reading each line until you get to the end of the file */
 
style="color: blue;">while((text=br.readLine())!=
style="color: blue;">null){
 /* Spilt each line up into bits and pieces using a comma as a separator */
 subtext = splitTokens(text,
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">",");
 }
 }
style="color: blue;">catch(FileNotFoundException e){
 e.printStackTrace();
 }
style="color: blue;">catch(IOException e){
 e.printStackTrace();
 }
style="color: blue;">finally{
 try {
 
style="color: blue;">if (br != null){
 br.close();
 }
 } 
style="color: blue;">catch (IOException e) {
 e.printStackTrace();
 }
 }
}

Arduino Code

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style="color: green;">/* This program was created by ScottC on 8/5/2012 to receive serial 

style="color: green;">signals from a computer to turn on/off 1-9 LEDs */


style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void setup() { 
 
style="color: green;">// 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);

style="color: green;">// Turn the Serial Protocol ON
 Serial.begin(9600);
}


style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void loop() {
 
style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">byte byteRead;

 
style="color: green;">/* check if data has been sent from the computer: */
 
style="color: blue;">if (Serial.available()) {
 
 
style="color: green;">/* read the most recent byte */
 byteRead = Serial.read();
 
style="color: green;">//You have to subtract '0' from the read Byte to convert from text to a number.
 byteRead=byteRead-
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">'0';
 
 
style="color: green;">//Turn off all LEDs if the byte Read = 0
 
style="color: blue;">if(byteRead==0){
 
style="color: green;">//Turn off all LEDS
 digitalWrite(2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(4, LOW);
 digitalWrite(5, LOW);
 digitalWrite(6, LOW);
 digitalWrite(7, LOW);
 digitalWrite(8, LOW);
 digitalWrite(9, LOW);
 digitalWrite(10, LOW);
 }
 
 
style="color: green;">//Turn LED ON depending on the byte Read.
 
style="color: blue;">if(byteRead>0){
 digitalWrite((byteRead+1), HIGH); 
style="color: green;">// set the LED on
 }
 }
 }

• The Arduino code will still work without the processing program. You can open the serial monitor window to send the commands to the Arduino manually. In fact, if you encounter any problems, I would suggest you do this. It will help to identify the root cause of the problem (ie Processing or Arduino Code, or physical connections).
• If you choose to use the Serial Monitor feature of the Arduino IDE, you cannot use the Processing program at the same time.

Connecting it all together

• Connect the USB cable from your computer to the Arduino, and upload the code.
• Keep the USB cable connected between the Arduino and the computer, as this will become the physical connection needed by the Processing Program
• Make sure that you have the text file in the correct location on your hard drive, and that it only contains numbers relevant to the code provided (separated by commas).
• Run the Processing program and watch the LEDs blink in the sequence described by the text file.
• You can add more numbers to the end of the line, however, the processing program will not be aware of them until you save the file. The text file does not have to be closed.

An alternative Processing Sketch

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style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">/* TextFile Sender: Written by Scott C on 5th April 2013

style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> using Processing Version 2.0b8 */

import processing.serial.*;

Serial comPort;

style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">int counter=0; 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">// Helps to keep track of values sent.

style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">int numItems=0; 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Keep track of the number of values in text file
boolean sendStrings=
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">false; 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Turns sending on and off
StringLoader sLoader; 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Used to send values to Arduino


style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void setup(){
 comPort = 
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">new Serial(
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);
 background(255,0,0); 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Start with a Red background
}


style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void draw(){
}



style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void mousePressed() {
 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Toggle between sending values and not sending values
 sendStrings=!sendStrings;
 
 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//If sendStrings is True - then send values to Arduino
 
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">if(sendStrings){
 background(0,255,0); 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Change the background to green
 
 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">/*When the background is green, transmit

style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> text file values to the Arduino */
 sLoader=
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">new StringLoader();
 sLoader.start();
 }
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">else{
 background(255,0,0); 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Change background to red
 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//Reset the counter
 counter=0;
 }
}




style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">/*============================================================*/

style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">/* The StringLoader class imports data from a text file

style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> on a new Thread and sends each value once every half second */

style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">public 
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">class 
style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">StringLoader extends Thread{
 
 
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">public StringLoader(){
 
style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">//default constructor
 }
 
 
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">public 
style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">void run() {
 String textFileLines[]=loadStrings(
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">"d:/mySensorData.txt");
 String lineItems[]=splitTokens(textFileLines[0], 
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">",");
 numItems=lineItems.length;
 
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">for(
style="color: rgb(43, 145, 175);">int i = counter; i<numItems; i++){
 comPort.write(lineItems[i]);
 delay(500);
 comPort.write(
style="color: rgb(163, 21, 21);">"0");
 }
 counter=numItems;
 }
}