LED Train Timetable

[Rob Klingberg]

Hello all--

In case you hadn't seen this, I thought this setup was pretty cool. Using an Arduino microcontroller board and an Organic LED (OLED) display screen, along with some custom code (readily available for download), Dan at the online maker shop Adafruit put together a railroad station timetable screen using a frame made out of Lego bricks. It's not hard to imagine this being updated in real-time with all kinds of cool information (actual time, train status from NXT sensors or homemade components, etc.). You could even modify this to be a TV, a control panel in a railroad control yard or a panel in a corporate datacenter, nuclear reactor, etc.

Here's a link to the write-up and instructions for making your own:

http://bit.ly/oledlego

Enjoy!

--Rob

[LovinLegoSince97]

cool

Edited June 30, 2012 by TheBrickster
quote of entire topic removed

[michaelozzie]

Very neat idea that

[Rail Co]

This is really a cool thing. This would be a nice touch on a train layout and station!

Thanks for sharing, Rail Co

[JopieK]

Of course with Arduino. Did you also notice the Adafruit Cuusoo project ;)

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/06/25/oled-lego-train-schedule/

[AlexC]

Rob, I also found this article several days ago, as keep thinking about something similar.

Currently it is done on Arduino microcontroller, but I wonder whether it is possible to connect OLED to NXT. Can anyone suggest a solution?

Also, wires and boards looks a bit bulky. Is it possible to minimize it sizes?

Edited July 11, 2012 by TheBrickster
Quote of entire post removed.

[picardgk]

Currently it is done on Arduino microcontroller, but I wonder whether it is possible to connect OLED to NXT. Can anyone suggest a solution?

I'm not an expert, but I think SPI interface would be difficult with NXT.

You could try an I2C OLED display and connect it to one of the sensor ports. Example "SeeedStudio Grove OLED Display 128*64" (new member, can't post links yet). It's monochrome, but I assume it would work with 4.3V

[The Joker1]

Very nice indeed. What a good idea.

[Hrw-Amen]

I do like these sort of things, I just wish I had the technical know how to make them or understand what they are going on about. At the end of the day I am sure they are relatively simple once you have the basics, but I don't and so they baffle me. If only they had this kind of stuff when I was a kid. Looking at it I feel compelled to understand how baffled my father used to get when I wired up several lights, signals and so on on our model railway at home using just one wire in parallel when he had used two wires there and back for every single one. I must be old! But a good idea to those who know.

[Ferrik]

It's a very creative idea.