Creative Inspiration Activity Generator

2024-07-19 | By Adafruit Industries

License: See Original Project Displays LCD / TFT Programmers

Courtesy of Adafruit

Guide by Collin Cunningham

Overview

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Feeling bored and need something to jumpstart the creative engine?‎

Sometimes the desire to create just needs a spark – some sort of ‎seed to grow from. This quick, solder-free project turns your Adafruit ‎CLUE into a randomized project generator. It's simple to use and ‎easy to customize by adding your own activities & subjects.‎

This project takes inspiration from Oblique Strategies, but updates ‎the idea for flexibility and more of an all-ages appeal.‎

What you'll need

In addition to a computer, you'll need an Adafruit CLUE, USB cable. ‎You can also use a battery to make your CLUE portable.‎

Optional

Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 500mAh‎

What you'll need to do

To get things up & running, this guide will show you how to:‎‎

Install CircuitPython on CLUE
Install necessary code libraries on CLUE‎
Upload project code

Let's get started!‎

CircuitPython on CLUE

CircuitPython is a derivative of MicroPython designed to simplify ‎experimentation and education on low-cost microcontrollers. It ‎makes it easier than ever to get prototyping by requiring no upfront ‎desktop software downloads. Simply copy and edit files on ‎the CIRCUITPY flash drive to iterate.‎

The following instructions will show you how to install CircuitPython. ‎If you've already installed CircuitPython but are looking to update it ‎or reinstall it, the same steps work for that as well!‎

Set up CircuitPython Quick Start!‎

Follow this quick step-by-step for super-fast Python power :)‎

Download the latest version of CircuitPython for CLUE from ‎circuitpython.org

Click the link above to download the latest version of ‎CircuitPython for the CLUE.‎

Download and save it to your desktop (or wherever is handy).‎

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Plug your CLUE into your computer using a known-good USB cable.‎

A lot of people end up using charge-only USB cables and it is very ‎frustrating! So, make sure you have a USB cable you know is good ‎for data sync.‎

Double-click the Reset button on the top (magenta arrow) on your ‎board, and you will see the NeoPixel RGB LED (green arrow) turn ‎green. If it turns red, check the USB cable, try another USB port, ‎etc. Note: The little red LED next to the USB connector will pulse red. ‎That's ok!‎

If double-clicking doesn't work the first time, try again. Sometimes it ‎can take a few tries to get the rhythm right!‎

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You will see a new disk drive appear called CLUEBOOT.‎

Drag the adafruit-circuitpython-clue-etc.uf2 file to CLUEBOOT.

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The LED will flash. Then, the CLUEBOOT drive will disappear, and a ‎new disk drive called CIRCUITPY will appear.‎

If this is the first time, you're installing CircuitPython or you're doing ‎a completely fresh install after erasing the filesystem, you will have ‎two files - boot_out.txt, and code.py, and one folder - lib on ‎your CIRCUITPY drive.‎

If CircuitPython was already installed, the files present before ‎reloading CircuitPython should still be present on ‎your CIRCUITPY drive. Loading CircuitPython will not create new ‎files if there was already a CircuitPython filesystem present.‎

That's it, you're done! :)‎

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Project Code

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Now that CircuitPython & libraries are installed on your CLUE, all you ‎need is the project code.‎

Installing Project Code

To use with CircuitPython, you need to first install a few libraries, into ‎the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY drive. Then you need to ‎update code.py with the example script.‎

Thankfully, we can do this in one go. In the example below, click ‎the Download Project Bundle button below to download the ‎necessary libraries and the code.py file in a zip file. Extract the ‎contents of the zip file, open the directory Activity_Generator/ and ‎then click on the directory that matches the version of CircuitPython ‎you're using and copy the contents of that directory to ‎your CIRCUITPY drive.‎

Your CIRCUITPY drive should now look similar to the following ‎image:‎

drive_6

Download Project Bundle

Copy Code

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Collin Cunningham for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
#
"""ACTIVITY GENERATOR for Adafruit CLUE"""

import time
import random
from adafruit_clue import clue
from things import activities
from things import subjects

screen = clue.simple_text_display(text_scale=4, colors=(clue.WHITE,))

screen[1].text = "ACTIVITY"
screen[2].text = "GENERATOR"
screen.show()
time.sleep(1.5)

screen[0].text = "make a"
screen[2].text = "about"
screen[1].color = clue.RED
screen[3].color = clue.GREEN
screen[4].color = clue.BLUE

activity = "???"
subject_a = "???"
subject_b = "???"
two_subjects = True

def random_pick(items):
    index = random.randint(0, len(items)-1)
    return items[index]

while True:

    if clue.button_a:
        activity = random_pick(activities)
        subject_a = random_pick(subjects)
        subject_b = random_pick(subjects)
        time.sleep(0.25)
    if clue.button_b:
        two_subjects = not two_subjects
        time.sleep(0.5)

    screen[1].text = activity
    screen[3].text = subject_a

    if two_subjects:
        screen[4].text = subject_b
    else:
        screen[4].text = ""

    screen.show()

View on GitHub

Usage & Customization

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After booting up, press the A button to generate a new project idea.‎

If you'd like simpler suggestions, press the B ‎button to remove the second item from the proposed subject.‎

Generally, the generated project ideas work best as starting points or ‎suggestions. For example: "make a VIDEO about METAL SINGING" ‎could be a video about a heavy metal band, or someone playing the ‎saw, or a crooning fork, etc.‎

Customize it

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