Are you getting excited, desperate to try out the new toy?

We are almost finished with the prototype controller but without the program its not going to do a lot, in fact it’s not going to do anything.

Before you upload the program you need to install a library to control the LCD display, this rather excellent piece of work has been created for you by Dale Wentz and you can find out more in the Arduino Playground

There is a tiny bug in the library code which has not as yet been updated, so to save explaining how to fix it I have included the fixed library along with my program.

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Now its time to start bringing this thing together.

Before you do this you will need to get the Arduino programming environment set up and test your Arduino board. Full instructions can be found on the Arduino Website for different computer platforms, if you need help with this then you can ask for help in the comments below

Once you have the software set up and you have successfully uploaded the blink demo to your Arduino you can get started assembling the controller prototype.

This section will give details how to put together the project on bread board, a solderless prototyping board which allows you to knock up circuits in next to no time and mess about changing things around until you are happy with it.

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You will need some sensors to get the most out of the controller so I will give a quick rundown on how to make a couple.

The first is a laser trip wire, this is a laser module which sends out a beam which bounces off a reflector back to the laser and is picked up by a photo transistor. The reflector is a retro reflector which basically means it bounces the light back in the opposite direction to which it arrives, this means you don’t have to spend the best part of a day trying to get the dam thing lined up – you just stick the reflector somewhere and aim the laser at it.

Another advantage of this approach is that the detector and laser are in one box, so there is only one cable to worry about, although its perfectly feasible to separate the detector and laser if you wish to point one directly at the other.

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Here is where we start to get into the nitty gritty..

For those of you who are new to electronics you better break out those peril sensitive sunglasses because this is going to blow your mind! I am about to describe the immensely complicated interplay between literally thousands of components with almost limitless possibilities.

OK, I may have slightly exaggerated with the thousands of components, its actually 9 and 5 of them are push buttons LOL but the limitless possibilities isn’t far off the mark because this basic setup could be the starting point of practically anything you could dream up.

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