What do you get if you add an Ikea childrens bedroom traffic light lamp:
to an Arduino Duemilanove microprocessor IO board, Arduino Ethernet Shield and some 240V 30A relays?
Well, my hope is that I can get our whole office engaged in the work us programmers do as part of the development process for our games.
I am making a network connected indicator light for the continuous integration build process that I’m going to put our next product under.
Some time ago, I was inspired by an article I read about using lava lamps as success/failure indicators for an automated build process. An automated build process has a host of benefits in it’s own right. Those benefits are further realised when the relevent people know immediately when a build has completed, where to get it and what’s in it that’s new. The first part then to make everyone aware when builds are ready, and a whopping great big green light stuck to a prominent wall in the office should do the trick.
I originally planned just to attach the lights using the Arduino USB port to the build machine. Then I looked into the Ethernet Shield, available as a simple plug on module, it looked so simple to get working that I couldn’t resist it! There’s much more flexibility in terms of programmatic access and physical positioning if the lights aren’t tied to a host with a USB cable. You can go Wi-Fi with the Arduino (you can even go Bluetooth or GSM if you like) but that was a little costlier, and who needs Wi-Fi in an office with Ethernet ports all over the place!
Obviously there’s a bunch of components to solder together, tutorials to follow, embedded code to learn and some assembly with extreme care, the traffic light has 3 bulbs run directly from the UK 240Volt mains!
Everything I ordered for the project is working well so far, and I have a small breadboard with LEDs on wired up like a traffic light and the Arduino board is turning them on and off. I’ll post more as I carry on!
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