Arduino Controlled Trains

[sjim]

Some time ago a group I'm engaged in got some money to create projects for our city festival (sort of).

For a bunch of reasons one of the main projects fell through and we needed a replacement. I suggested a display with Lego trains controlled by Arduino.

Last week was presentation time. It's a first iteration so I wanted to make it simple yes a fit fun to look at.

The trains go in opposite directions in an oval. There are two stations where the trains either wait five seconds or wait until the upcoming track part is clear. If the waiting time is up and there is no other train in the way it's go-time.

Since the trains go in opposite directions, the switches can be static.

You can check out a more in-depth description on my site:

http://greytag.se/lt/showtime/

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

[JopieK]

Quite nice! I only think you should try to make them run and stop a little less abrupt. I would recommend reed sensors (switches) b.t.w. instead of those LDR's, you can see they are not too reliable for obvious reasons.

[sjim]

Quite nice!

Thanks!

I only think you should try to make them run and stop a little less abrupt.

Agreed! I tried, it's on the list of iteration 2. :)

I would recommend reed sensors (switches) b.t.w. instead of those LDR's, you can see they are not too reliable for obvious reasons.

Absolutely!

[JopieK]

It is a very nice though! Need to start somewhere of course. I teach Arduino but also still struggle how to show automated trains on events etc.

[dr_spock]

Neat. How do you get funding? Do you approach the city?

Reed switches worked pretty well for me. Things ran fine until the train jumped the frog switch. Need to do something about those LEGO track switches.

[sjim]

It is a very nice though! Need to start somewhere of course. I teach Arduino but also still struggle how to show automated trains on events etc.

Thanks!

Neat. How do you get funding? Do you approach the city?

Reed switches worked pretty well for me. Things ran fine until the train jumped the frog switch. Need to do something about those LEGO track switches.

Thanks! Your video was one of my main inspirations, but I lost the link. :(

Now that I have it, I will link it from my page.

The short story of the funding is that Helsingborg City wanted to add a creative place to the festival. A group I'm somewhat involved with was tasked with this and a few of my friends got some funding for an AR-project (The Sandbox).

This project fell through however, and I suggested to replace their project with Lego trains and got the funding. So a bit of luck and guts. :P

The AR-project and an additional copy was produced and shown anyway by the same team to I got some trains, the city got three (!) projects and people got to build their sandboxes. Triple win!!

http://www.creativelab.nu/program-utstallare/