RGB Animator

How to use the RGB Animator robot skill

The eyes of the EZ-Robot JD Humanoid and RGB Eyes EZ-Bit contain an array of 18 RGB LEDs. This animator allows you to create colorful patterns and animations with them.

*Note: The RGB Animator connects to the RGB Eyes through an i2c interface. If the RGB Eyes are not connected to the i2c interface, executing the RGB Animator will lock up the EZ-B.

Main Window

1. Action List
This section lists the animation actions you have created. Click on the desired action to highlight it for execution.

2. Status Display
Displays the last event that happened within the skill.

3. Execute/Stop Buttons
These buttons execute the highlighted action in the Action list and stop the running action (great for interrupting repeating actions).

4. Board Settings Button
This pop-up allows you to change the skill title and EZ-B board index number. The index relates to which EZ-B you want to control the RGB Eyes. *Note: Changing the title will also change the title in the controlCommand() associated with this skill.

Configuration - Actions

1. Action List
This section lists the animation actions you have created. Click on the desired action and add frames to it.

2. Frame List
This section lists the created frames for the selected action. Use the frame management buttons to modify the Frame List. Above the Frame list is a checkbox to select if you'd like the frame list to loop continuously.

3. Pause Drop-down
This drop-down selects a delay in milliseconds between frames (0-5000 range in increments of 100). Right-click to enter a custom number with your keyboard, 5000 or below.

4. Transition Checkbox
This checkbox enables a transition between frames.

5. Transition Drop-down
This drop-down selects a transition delay in milliseconds between frames (0-5000 range in increments of 100). Right-click to enter a custom number with your keyboard, 5000 or below.

6. Cursor
This cursor selects the RGB LED that the sliders will modify. The color will change to display the combined color of all three sliders. Use multiple cursors to select more than one RGB LEDs to be modified at once.

7. LED Display
This display represents each of the 18 RGB LEDs on the RGB Eyes in positional order. Use the cursor + sliders to modify the colors.

8. Red/Green/Blue Sliders
These sliders work in conjunction with the LED display and cursor to change the color of each of the 18 RGB LEDs on the RGB Eyes.

9. Unselect All Button
Clears all the cursors.

10. Frame Management Buttons
These buttons modify the frame list. They allow you to add, duplicate, and remove frames and move them up and down the list (once selected).

11. Action Management Buttons
These buttons add and remove actions from the Action List.

Configuration - Settings

1. Animator Start Script
This script runs when any action is executed.

2. Animator Stop Script
This script runs when any action is stopped or ends.

3. Variable Fields
These variables represent the current action/frame that is being executed. There is also a variable for the animator status, which represents if the animator is running or not.

4. I2C Address Field
This is the single-byte I2C address of the RGB Eyes. This address can be changed if you want to use more than one.

*Note: If you are only using one set of RGB Eyes, we recommend that you do not change the I2C address.

5. Current I2C Address Field
This field is the I2C address you are switching from.

6. New I2C Address Field
This field is the I2C address you are switching to.

7. Change Address Button
This button executes the I2C address change.

*Note: Write down the new I2C address in case you delete the RGB Animator skill or use a different project. Otherwise, you'll have to guess and test if you forget the new I2C address. The default address is 0xa0. If you change it and have forgotten the new address, check this forum thread here. That forum thread discusses using an arduino and some i2c scan code to find the i2c address and send the correct code to change it back to 0xa0.

How to Use RGB Animator

1) Add the RGB Animator Skill to your ARC project (Project -> Add Skill -> I2C -> RGB Animator).

2) In the Configuration menu, create a new action.

3) Add new frames to that action.

4) Modify the frames using the cursor to select any number of the 18 black squares (RGB LEDs) and adjust the Red/Green/Blue Sliders. Watch your RGB Eyes change in real-time. Add pauses and transition delays between frames if desired.

5) Save your action and in the main window, select the action you created and press the execute button.

Video

Requirements

The RGB Animator skill is compatible with the following products:

• 18 RGB LED PCB
• 18 RGB LED Block
• JD Humanoid Robot

Resources

The Hardware for this skill is open source, you can find the files here.