from pygame import Surface

from dark_stew.pgfw.GameChild import GameChild
from dark_stew.water.Layer import Layer

class Water(GameChild):

    def __init__(self, parent):
        GameChild.__init__(self, parent)
        self.display_surface = self.get_display_surface()
        self.load_configuration()
        self.set_background()
        self.add_layers()

    def load_configuration(self):
        config = self.get_configuration("water")
        self.opacity = config["opacity"]
        self.speed = config["speed"]
        self.color = config["color"]

    def set_background(self):
        background = Surface(self.display_surface.get_size())
        background.fill(self.color)
        self.background = background

    def add_layers(self):
        layers = []
        for ii, opacity in enumerate(self.opacity):
            layers.append(Layer(self, opacity, self.speed[ii], ii * 16))
        self.layers = layers

    def update(self):
        for layer in self.layers:
            layer.update()
        self.draw()

    def draw(self):
        self.display_surface.blit(self.background, (0, 0))
        for layer in reversed(self.layers):
            layer.draw()
from pygame import Surface
from pygame.image import load

from dark_stew.pgfw.GameChild import GameChild

class Layer(GameChild, Surface):

    def __init__(self, parent, opacity, speed, base_offset):
        GameChild.__init__(self, parent)
        self.opacity = opacity
        self.speed = speed
        self.base_offset = base_offset
        self.display_surface = self.get_display_surface()
        self.transparent_color = (255, 0, 255)
        self.offset = 0
        self.set_tile()
        self.init_surface()
        self.paint()

    def set_tile(self):
        path = self.get_resource("water", "tile-path")
        self.tile = load(path).convert_alpha()

    def init_surface(self):
        padding = self.tile.get_width()
        width, height = self.parent.parent.size
        Surface.__init__(self, (width + padding, height + padding))
        transparent_color = self.transparent_color
        self.fill(transparent_color)
        self.set_colorkey(transparent_color)
        self.set_alpha(self.opacity)
        self.padding = padding

    def paint(self):
        tile = self.tile
        for x in xrange(0, self.get_width(), tile.get_width()):
            for y in xrange(0, self.get_height(), tile.get_height()):
                self.blit(tile, (x, y))

    def update(self):
        offset = self.offset - self.speed
        padding = self.padding
        if offset < -padding:
            offset += padding
        self.offset = offset

    def draw(self):
        rect = self.parent.parent.move([int(self.offset)] * 2)
        rect.top += self.base_offset
        self.display_surface.blit(self, rect)
from math import sqrt
from os import listdir
from os.path import isdir, join
from re import match

from dark_stew.pgfw.GameChild import GameChild
from dark_stew.pool.Pool import Pool

class Pools(GameChild, list):

    def __init__(self, parent):
        GameChild.__init__(self, parent)
        self.add_pools()

    def add_pools(self):
        width = self.parent.w
        step = int(float(width) / sqrt(self.count_pools()))
        ii = 0
        for x in xrange(step / 2, width, step):
            for y in xrange(step / 2, width, step):
                self.append(Pool(self, (x, y), ii))
                ii += 1
        self.step = step

    def count_pools(self):
        count = 0
        root = self.get_resource("pool", "water-path")
        for name in listdir(root):
            if match("^[0-9]", name):
                count += 1
        return count

    def update(self):
        for pool in self:
            pool.update()
from os.path import join

from dark_stew.pgfw.Sprite import Sprite

class Ring(Sprite):

    def __init__(self, parent, index):
        Sprite.__init__(self, parent)
        self.index = index
        self.display_surface = self.get_display_surface()
        self.load_from_path(self.build_path(), transparency=True, ppa=False)
        self.rect.center = parent.center

    def build_path(self):
        return join(self.get_resource("pool", "ring-path"),
                    str(self.index) + ".png")

    def draw(self):
        x, y = self.rect.topleft
        frame = self.get_current_frame()
        surface = self.display_surface
        for dx, dy in self.parent.parent.parent.get_corners():
            surface.blit(frame, (x + dx, y + dy))
from os.path import join

from pygame import Surface
from pygame.image import load

from dark_stew.pgfw.Sprite import Sprite

class Water(Sprite):

    def __init__(self, parent, index):
        Sprite.__init__(self, parent)
        self.index = index
        self.display_surface = self.get_display_surface()
        self.transparent_color = (255, 0, 255)
        self.load_configuration()
        self.load_groove()
        self.set_framerate(self.framerate)
        self.load_from_path(join(self.frames_root, str(index)),
                            transparency=True, ppa=False)
        self.rect.center = parent.center

    def load_configuration(self):
        config = self.get_configuration("pool")
        self.framerate = config["framerate"]
        self.frames_root = self.get_resource("pool", "water-path")
        self.groove_path = self.get_resource(join(config["water-path"],
                                                  config["groove-path"]))

    def load_groove(self):
        image = load(join(self.groove_path, str(self.index) + ".png"))
        surface = Surface(image.get_size())
        transparent_color = self.transparent_color
        surface.fill(transparent_color)
        surface.set_colorkey(transparent_color)
        surface.blit(image, (0, 0))
        self.groove = surface

    def draw(self):
        x, y = self.rect.topleft
        frame = self.get_current_frame()
        surface = self.display_surface
        groove = self.groove
        for dx, dy in self.parent.parent.parent.get_corners():
            surface.blit(frame, (x + dx, y + dy))
            surface.blit(groove, (x + dx, y + dy))
216.73.216.28
216.73.216.28
216.73.216.28
 
January 23, 2021

I wanted to document this chat-controlled robot I made for Babycastles' LOLCAM📸 that accepts a predefined set of commands like a character in an RPG party 〰 commands like walk, spin, bash, drill. It can also understand donut, worm, ring, wheels, and more. The signal for each command is transmitted as a 24-bit value over infrared using two Arduinos, one with an infrared LED, and the other with an infrared receiver. I built the transmitter circuit, and the receiver was built into the board that came with the mBot robot kit. The infrared library IRLib2 was used to transmit and receive the data as a 24-bit value.


fig. 1.1: the LEDs don't have much to do with this post!

I wanted to control the robot the way the infrared remote that came with the mBot controlled it, but the difference would be that since we would be getting input from the computer, it would be like having a remote with an unlimited amount of buttons. The way the remote works is each button press sends a 24-bit value to the robot over infrared. Inspired by Game Boy Advance registers and tracker commands, I started thinking that if we packed multiple parameters into the 24 bits, it would allow a custom move to be sent each time, so I wrote transmitter and receiver code to process commands that looked like this:

bit
name
description
00
time
multiply by 64 to get duration of command in ms
01
02
03
04
left
multiply by 16 to get left motor power
05
06
07
08
right
multiply by 16 to get right motor power
09
10
11
12
left sign
0 = left wheel backward, 1 = left wheel forward
13
right sign
0 = right wheel forward, 1 = right wheel backward
14
robot id
0 = send to player one, 1 = send to player two
15
flip
negate motor signs when repeating command
16
repeats
number of times to repeat command
17
18
19
delay
multiply by 128 to get time between repeats in ms
20
21
22
23
swap
swap the motor power values on repeat
fig 1.2: tightly stuffed bits

The first command I was able to send with this method that seemed interesting was one that made the mBot do a wheelie.

$ ./send_command.py 15 12 15 1 0 0 0 7 0 1
sending 0xff871fcf...


fig 1.3: sick wheels

A side effect of sending the signal this way is any button on any infrared remote will cause the robot to do something. The star command was actually reverse engineered from looking at the code a random remote button sent. For the robot's debut, it ended up with 15 preset commands (that number is in stonks 📈). I posted a highlights video on social media of how the chat controls turned out.

This idea was inspired by a remote frog tank LED project I made for Ribbit's Frog World which had a similar concept: press a button, and in a remote location where 🐸 and 🐠 live, an LED would turn on.


fig 2.1: saying hi to froggo remotely using an LED

😇 The transmitter and receiver Arduino programs are available to be copied and modified 😇