Arduino: Electronic Dice (using random numbers)

This instructable will show you how to make an electronic dice with minimal experience using 7 LEDs, resistors, jumper wires, and of course the arduino (or arduino clone). I wrote this instructable for anyone to easily follow along and learn more about the arduino. Questions are welcome and will be answered as soon as possible. For less experienced users the code for the arduino is in "longhand" and several comments are included for better understanding of the code being uploaded into the arduino.

Step 1 Parts list

Arduino or a clone ( I'm using a protoshield but a breadboard will work the same way)
11 Jumper Wires (or stripped wires in order to make connections on a breadboard)
7 Resistors (I used 330ohms) (ORANGE)(ORANGE)(BROWN)(GOLD)
7 LEDs ( I used green)
1 tactile switch or motions sensor (I used a motion sensor)

Comments

[redryno1221]

Please comment if you have questions or suggestions on how to make this instructable better... thanx

[Noldoaran]

You forgot to set the pinMode to OUTPUT for middleLeft and middleRight.

Great instructable! I love how neat your wiring is. I made LED dice before reading this instructable, but mine looks like a mess.

[anand-patel]

Hi, i made a arduino dice following http://www.instructables.com/id/Digital-Dice-an-Arduino-project/ - would you know how to make the lights flash randomly before settling on a number (i.e to simulate the 'rolling' of a die)? Cheers

[redryno1221]

I would just like to emphasize that the code I wrote is not optimized to work efficiently but written for beginners to begin to see how it works. I have updated the code to flash randomly 6 times before picking the final number. Let me know if there are any problems as I have not actually tested it. :)

http://www.mediafire.com/?bidb4kb3usxe7f3

[dpoulson]

Nice. An electronic die is exactly what I did as my first from scratch arduino project. :)

On the random front, as stated, seeding from an analog port seems to work well.

Also, in the interest of reducing the code, and a possible further exercise for anyone doing this instructable, you can reduce the number of i/o pins down to 4 for a standard d6.

Nice instructable. You beat me to doing the same one! :)

[dpoulson]

Heh, just realised how old this instructable was! It has just been posted on electronics-lab.com blog! :)

[Paul Smith]

How do you overcome the fact the the random function in the arduino always uses the same sequence of random numbers, thus making it predictable?

[redryno1221]

Even if it used the same sequence (which i do not believe it does, i think it works based on the clock of the atmega328 but i haven't read up on it) it is so long that if you memorize the sequence you either have an incredible memory or you use it too much ;)

[Paul Smith]

Well I was trying to make a random number generator to simulate dice. I used the serial.print command to log the sequence random(1,6) and it was always the same! Someone suggested using randomSeed(analogRead(0)) so Ill have to give it a try...

[redryno1221]

huh i didn't know that... tell me what you find... I thought the random was much like a computers random number that is based off of the clock (ms)...

[Tanners]

it looked like some of the risistors were backwards or does it matter?

[redryno1221]

for resistors it doesn't matter which way they are...
in other words resistors are not effected by polarity.. :)