Digital Dice Project Overview

Introduction

• Ideal project for beginners to learn about microcontrollers, circuits, and programming.
• The project involves creating a digital dice set using a microcontroller, a display, and a button.

Requirements

• Materials Needed:
  • Microcontroller (e.g., Raspberry Pi Pico, Raspberry Pi Pico 2, Arduino)
  • Small OLED display (e.g., 0.91 inch)
  • Two push buttons
  • Breadboard
  • Connecting wires
  • A PC to program the microcontroller using Thonny IDE and MicroPython

Project Components and Setup

• Microcontroller:
  • Raspberry Pi Pico utilized with MicroPython.
• Display:
  • Connect the display using I2C protocol.
  • SC pin: Connect to GPIO 15.
  • SDA pin: Connect to GPIO 14.
  • Power pins: Connect to 3.3V and ground.
• Buttons:
  • First button to roll the dice.
  • Second button to select dice type (e.g., 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 12-sided, 20-sided).
  • Connect one side of the button to ground and the other side to respective GPIO pins.

Coding Aspects

• MicroPython Code:
  • Uses the I2C protocol for controlling the display.
  • Implement functions to:
    • Initialize the display driver.
    • Read button inputs with debouncing.
    • Update the display with the current dice number.
• Button Handling:
  • Handle button press events to modify dice type and initiate rolls.
  • Address button bouncing by implementing debouncing logic.

Display Logic

• Custom Font Display:
  • Define custom pixel arrays for numbers and dice faces.
  • Use functions to print these arrays on the display.

Conclusion

• A versatile beginner project that can be extended to use buttons and displays for various applications.
• Encouragement to provide feedback and request additional projects.
• Project code is available on GitHub for reference and use.