game for disabled girl

Hi I've been asked to help design a circuit that would help a severly disabled girl play a simple game.

The idea is that using two switches* the child could start a game( light and sound) which the colours go round in a sequence , stop it, remember the colour and continue pressing the button again. Stops it again at the colour she thinks is correct. If it is a green light and sounds will go on, if not it'll go red then continue in the sequence.

Its basically a light and sound game of snap.
* one on each side of the head.

thanks
Please find attached a powerpoint flow chart etc.

I would guess that Mechanical design and erognomics will be the biggest challenge. Sounds feasible, though. What do you need help with?

- Nick

It's the electronic design I'm worried about, i don't know wither to use a microcontroller ( no programming skills) or logic using latches etc .

i would advise to go for a microcontroller.
as you have to control the speed of passing colors , it will be easier to change and also anything else as you develop the device.

a simple controller like atmel 2051 or 8051 will do.
as said in the previous post , it is the ergonomics and position of switches and controlling may be a challenge.

since you are comfortable with that part , a microcontroller will do the job nicely.

Are they easy to program, which language? Would I need external componments? Sorry I don't have much of a clue...

for programming the controller you can use c.
and definitely requires external components for this work which you want to make.

use a PIC chip very few external components - can be programmed in C,Basic,Pascal Assembler all of witch are free to download but with limitations in code size etc. eg. Microchip MPLAB is free PMP micro pascal is free with no limitations and you can have a look at arduino & picduino so all in all look for stickey getting started with pic microcontrollers and let me know if you are interested need a photo of disabled girl not here to your assignments but will help if girl is disabled

Need a photo of the girl? WTF?

Keith

but will help if girl is disabled

Click to expand...

explain please

aright pal?(Scottish accent)

I have seen the presentation. This sounds pretty easy with a microcontroller than without it. It is also a very simple loop. i would advise you to use the PIC microcontroller from Microchip, they are very easy to get hold of and are also very easy to program. Microchip also provides a free C compiler. i would be willing to volunteer to develop this free of charge for you.

Its not more than an hours job.

kind regards.

If you don't have microcontroller experience I would strongly advise against using a 'raw-metal' approach here.

Have a look at the Arduino project (https://arduino.cc) It is a small microcontroller pototyping platform originally designed for artists so it comes with a super simple development environment and many code samples to get you started.

The beauty of having something simple like that, compared to building your own microcontroller circuit is that it is all self contained, i.e: You just buy a pre-built board (Around 15-20 pounds, there a few UK distributors), download the software and you're good to go. If you decide to build your own microcontroller circuit you will need to set up your own development environment and the compiler and most importantly you will need to buy a programmer hardware to program your chips (Arduino comes with a simple bootloader so you don't need an external programmer to program it)


Hope this helps!

I would go one step further and suggest a Parallax Basic Stamp, since the OP has no programming experience. I'd think the learning curve for anything else would just be too steep, for a one-off project.

Either of these should do the job. You can often find these on ebay for $15-25. Spending a little more for a development board will speed things along.

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Hi ,
By when do you want the code? I can write for you on 8051 microcontroller(AT89s51 or AT89S52). Components required will be easily available in scotland. As for programming the chip at your end I will send you a URL for a simple parallel port programmer. There is only one condition , you will have to assure me that this will only be used for non commercial purpose. If its fine withyou mail me the ppt at rohittkhanna@gmal.com

Asimov

If you do not know about microcontroller programming, I would recommend a graphical programming package that you can prepare your application simply by connecting the blocks instead of writing code. Flowcode is a good candidate that supports either AVR, PIC or ARM:

BiPOM Electronics - Flowcode V4 for PIC

Kennedy

Hi,
I am attaching the code which I have written for this. Its based on 8051 running @ 4MHz. See rest of the details in ths Asm code. I will test this code shortly others kindly scrutnize and let me know of any errors.

As for progreamming the chip kindly make the programmer described at the following URL:

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Hi , I have updated the files. testing continues
Asimov