TinkerCad microbit traffic light simulator (now with video)

Back to playing with TinkerCad in a previous post called explaining-tinkercad-microbit-neural, I used it to produce a simulation of a microbit-based neural network built around microbits.

If you haven't played with this free tool to TinkerCad https://www.tinkercad.com/dashboard from AutoCad, I highly recommend it as a versatile, simple CAD system (that includes coding for microbits) with a load of support material. If that wasn't enough, it is free and online.

So, to experiment, I have made a simple traffic light simulator (an oldie but a goodie), so I can see what it can do a little more. Essentially, Red, Orange and Green LEDs (with appropriate resistors) are controlled by pins 0,1,and 2 on the microbit.

So here is a circuit with a microbit. The anode (the one with the bent leg)connects to the microbit pins through resistors. The cathode goes to the ground connection.

Here is the code for the microbit turning the LEDs on and off, and when it starts up putting a smiley face onto the microbit.

For those who like circuit diagrams, it can produce a more formal circuit diagram and the parts list (see below)- nice feature.

Have a play with the simulator below it goes a little bit further and changes the smiley face to letters (see the code below)

Possible ideas, change the LEDs to those that change colour, and now the approach can be used to provide a bit of control on the timings of those. Also experimented with replacing the smiley face with letters for LEDs colour (e,g, R for Red) - actually done that in the simulation above with the code below :-)

All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

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