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https://github.com/musabkilic/microbike

Turn your micro:bit into a Game Controller
https://github.com/musabkilic/microbike

Last synced: 20 days ago
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Turn your micro:bit into a Game Controller

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README 

        


	MicroBike






	

	

	




Turn your micro:bit into a Game Controller.



- _[10 December 2017] :uk: Github Page: [https://github.com/musabkilic/MicroBike/](https://github.com/musabkilic/MicroBike/)_  

- _[27 December 2018] :uk: Project Page on My Website: [https://musab.netlify.com/projects/MicroBike](https://musab.netlify.com/projects/MicroBike)_  



**The websites listed under are _NOT_ controlled by me and I'm _NOT_ responsible for the changes that may happen in the future**



- _[14 November 2018] :uk: Featured on official Micro:Bit Ideas page: [https://microbit.org/ideas/](https://microbit.org/ideas/)_   

- _[9 January 2019] :tr: SAMM Blog Tarafından Türkçe Yazı: [https://blog.samm.com/microbit-projeleri-microbike/](https://blog.samm.com/microbit-projeleri-microbike/)_   

- _[19 January 2019]: :uk: Featured on "10 Amazing micro:bit Projects", Micro:Mag Issue 3: [https://micromag.cc/issuethree/](https://micromag.cc/issuethree/)_   

- _[7 February 2019] :poland: Featured on RoboCap, Warsztaty programowania i robotyki dla dzieci: [https://robocap.org/microbit/index01.html#/1](https://robocap.org/microbit/index01.html#/1)_   

- _[20 March 2019] :uk: Featured on "16 Top BBC micro:bit Projects": [https://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-hardware/26289/13-top-bbc-micro-bit-projects](https://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-hardware/26289/13-top-bbc-micro-bit-projects)_    

- _[25 March 2019] :uk: Featured on "Meet the BBC micro:bit": [https://www.diogomakes.com/blog/meet-the-bbc-microbit/](https://www.diogomakes.com/blog/meet-the-bbc-microbit/)_

- _[13 April 2019] :cn: Chinese Translation by 江宗諭: [https://vmaker.tw/archives/32557](https://vmaker.tw/archives/32557)_

- _[16 April 2019] :de: CalliMoto, a MicroBike Inspired Controller: [https://www.hackster.io/thorsten-kimmeskamp/callimoto-50a10d](https://www.hackster.io/thorsten-kimmeskamp/callimoto-50a10d)_  

- _[18 April 2019] :estonia: Tallinna Polütehnikum, Introduction to Micro:Bit: [http://nelus.tpt.edu.ee/txt/J4i8X-microbit.txt](http://nelus.tpt.edu.ee/txt/J4i8X-microbit.txt)_

- _[10 December 2019] :uk: Featured on "Top 25 Micro:Bit Projects You Must Try 2019!": [https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2019/12/10/top-25-microbit-projects-for-beginners-2019/](https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2019/12/10/top-25-microbit-projects-for-beginners-2019/)_



![gif](https://github.com/musabkilic/MicroBike/raw/master/res/microbike.gif)



## What is it?



This project allows you to control PC games using a [BBC micro:bit](https://microbit.org/) as the game controller. To get the code to work, you'll need a couple of extra Python modules installed onto your local machine:

- [Pynput](https://pynput.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), "Monitor and control user input devices"

- [David Whale](https://github.com/whaleygeek)'s [bitio library](https://github.com/whaleygeek/bitio), which "allows you to run code in Python on a PC/Mac/Linux/Raspberry Pi and interact directly with the micro:bit"



## Installation

### Setting up your PC

You'll need to set up the device on which the game will be played first.

1. If you don't already have Python, [download Python 2.7 from this link](https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/)

2. If you don't already have Pip, [install it by following these instructions](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/). Pip is a "package manager" for Python, and makes getting set up with Python packages really easy.

3. Get the MicroBike folder and install the required modules.



**Using command line**



Open a new [command line window](https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/commandi.htm). This is called 'Terminal' on a Mac, 'Command Prompt' on Windows, and 'shell' or 'terminal' on Linux. Type the following:



   ```git clone https://github.com/musabkilic/MicroBike```



This gets the latest MicroBike code from this [Git repository](https://help.github.com/articles/about-repositories/).



   Navigate to the MicroBike folder in your command line window using the ['cd' command](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cd_(command)) - you may need to change the path, depending on how you've configured git on your computer:



   ```cd MicroBike```



Next, install the required modules:



   ```pip install -U -q -r requirements.txt```



Click below to see a demonstration of this:



[![Installing Required Modules for MicroBike](https://github.com/musabkilic/MicroBike/raw/master/res/command_line.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Vw__5VoTY "Installing Required Modules for MicroBike")



**Setting up the bitio library**



See [this](https://github.com/whaleygeek/bitio#getting-started) to set up [David Whale](https://github.com/whaleygeek)'s [bitio library](https://github.com/whaleygeek/bitio).



### Setting up your micro:bit

Connect your micro:bit to your computer. Get the latest [bitio.hex](https://github.com/whaleygeek/bitio/raw/master/bitio.hex) from the bitio repository, and [drag this hex file to your micro:bit to 'flash' it to the device](https://microbit.org/guide/hardware/usb/).



If you're on Windows, you'll also need to [install the Windows serial driver](https://os.mbed.com/docs/v5.9/tutorials/windows-serial-driver.html) on your computer.



**Done!** You can use MicroBike by typing ```python controller.py``` in your computer's command line.



## How does it work?

Let's review the code for [controller.py](https://github.com/musabkilic/MicroBike/blob/master/controller.py) to understand how this works.



```python

import microbit

import time

from pynput.keyboard import Key, Controller

```



We need to import the modules to use them later. We will use 3 modules; microbit module for controlling and reading data from the micro:bit, time module for waiting for a specific time step and pynput module to control the keyboard(and the game of course).



```python

#Function for Changing a Key

def changeKeyState(key, value):

	global keyboard_keys



	#Change Only Neccessary

	if value!=keyboard_keys.get(key, False):

		if value:

			keyboard.press(key)

		else:

			keyboard.release(key)



	keyboard_keys[key] = value

```



`changeKeyState` is a function, it will help us to control the keyboard keys - for example if the handlebar goes left, it will press the left arrow key.



```python

#Specify Keyboard

keyboard = Controller()

#Set Accelerometer Values

previous_values = microbit.accelerometer.get_values()

keyboard_keys = {}

#Set Images

stable = microbit.Image("00000:00000:99999:00000:00000")

images = {"N": microbit.Image.ARROW_N,

		  "NE": microbit.Image.ARROW_NE,

		  "NW": microbit.Image.ARROW_NW,

		  "E": microbit.Image.ARROW_E,

		  "W": microbit.Image.ARROW_W,

		  "": stable}

```



We will define some variables to use them later.



```python

#Wait for User to Press a Button

while 1:

	#Blink

	microbit.display.show(microbit.Image.ARROW_W)

	time.sleep(0.5)

	microbit.display.clear()



	#Start the Program if a Button is Pressed

	if microbit.button_a.was_pressed() or microbit.button_b.was_pressed():

		break

	time.sleep(0.5)

```



This is the first loop. It will keep blinking until the user presses the A or B button. After pressing the button controller will start running.



```python

#Start the Loop

while 1:

	#Get Accelerometer Values

	accelerometer_values = microbit.accelerometer.get_values()

	x,y,z = accelerometer_values



	#Calculate Avarege Motion in X,Y,Z Directions

	motion = sum(map(lambda x:abs(accelerometer_values[x]-previous_values[x]),range(3)))/3

```



This is the main loop. We will start by getting required values and calculating the motion.



```python

	#Change Direction

	changeKeyState(Key.up, y>400)

	changeKeyState(Key.right, x>60)

	changeKeyState(Key.left, x<-60)

	changeKeyState(Key.shift, motion>500)



	#Set Direction to Show

	direction = ""

	if y>400:

		direction += "N"

	if x>60:

		direction += "E"

	elif x<-60:

		direction += "W"



	#Show the Direction

	microbit.display.show(images[direction])

	#Set Current Accelerometer Values to Previous

  previous_values = accelerometer_values

```

Then we will use the information we get before to control the game. Keyboard keys will trigger when the microbit turns right or left higher than a specific value.



We will use same information for changing the direction on the microbit.





	Musab Kılıç


	@musabkilic & @musabkilic0


	Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0