[No.5] Press a Button and Something Happens! An "Okaeri" (Welcome Home) LED Sign

Programming and Making

Let's make an LED sign with the LED panel using SPACEBLOCK, the tiny computer for making things. In [No.4], the program lit up the 8×8 RGB LED Matrix Panel (LED panel) as soon as you turned on the power. This time, we'll change it into a program where "the LEDs light up when you press the button."

Elementary School ~ Beginner 25 min

What You Need & Getting Ready

You need SPACEBLOCK, the LED panel, the USB cable, and the battery box. You connect them and open the programming screen the same way as last time. Make sure SPACEBLOCK is connected to your computer with the USB cable, connect the device from the top left of the programming screen (next to the SPACEBLOCK logo), and build your program with "Device ON" showing.

If the top left of the programming screen (next to the SPACEBLOCK logo) doesn't say "Device ON," click it to connect

A Program That Uses the Button

To make a program that lights up when you press the button, use the [When button (PA8) is pressed] block in the [Basic] category.

You can put other blocks inside the [When button (PA8) is pressed] block

SPACEBLOCK has 2 buttons, named "PA8" and "PA9." When you use the [When button (PA8/PA9) is pressed] block, make sure you choose the right button.

Choose which button to use. This program uses PA8

Next is the LED panel program. As in the next picture, program it so that when the button is pressed, the Japanese characters オ (o), カ (ka), エ (e), and リ (ri) appear one after another. Together they spell "okaeri," which means "welcome home." Draw each character with an [RGB LED (A10): light up] block, put a [Pause for (1000) milliseconds] block in between so each character stays lit for a while, and at the end turn the LEDs off with a [Turn off all LEDs on RGB LED (A10)] block.

The program goes inside the [When button (PA8) is pressed] block. It's tall, so it's split in two here

Build the program as in the picture above and run it.

Click [Run] at the bottom of the programming screen to start the program, then press the button (PA8) on SPACEBLOCK and... the characters オ, カ, エ, リ appear one by one! The button block keeps watching the button the whole time the program is running, and runs the program inside it only when the button is pressed.

How the Button Block Works

Besides the [Start Program] block, this program has a [When button (PA8) is pressed] block. The [When button (PA8) is pressed] block keeps checking whether the button is pressed the whole time the program is running. When it detects that the button was pressed, it runs the program attached inside it.

With blocks like this that run "when something happens," you can make programs that wait until something triggers them and only then carry out the instructions.

The program inside runs only when the button is pressed

Let's run the program again. When you press the button (PA8) on SPACEBLOCK, the characters オ, カ, エ, リ appear one by one, 1 second each.

It shows "okaeri" (welcome home)

If you transfer the program to SPACEBLOCK and run it in standalone mode, you can use it without the computer. Your "welcome home" LED sign, which shows the message whenever you press the button, is complete!

The World of SPACEBLOCK Keeps Growing

The program is finished, but right now it still looks like a pile of materials and parts. Let's think about where to put the LED panel. For example, if you set SPACEBLOCK inside a white plastic box, the LED display shines through like this. It looks pretty stylish!

Taped to the inside of the box. Jumper wires connect the LED panel to SPACEBLOCK so it's easier to handle

It glows beautifully through the white plastic

Try combining it with your own crafts and come up with your own design for the device!

Also, remember that computers have input devices and output devices. In the program you made this time, the button is the input device and the LED panel is the output device. If you use something else as the input device instead of pressing a button, or add more output devices besides the LED panel, you might make an even more useful and fun "welcome home" sign. Try thinking up some ideas!!

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