A simple refreshable braille display using the Arduino

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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Hello!

Please can somebody help me out with this task? It would be very much appreciated.

The task is to implement a refreshable braille display using a set of mini solenoids controlled by an Arduino. The system should be able to convert an ASCII text
into a braille dot pattern on a block of six mini-solenoids.
So I have the 6 solenoids along with other required components, all wired to a breadboard ready for testing. The solenoids are attached to the Arduino, from pin 2 to pin 7. So six solenoids in total.

If you can give me a hand I really appreciate it. Thanks

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This isn't a free programming service. Create the sketch yourself and ask here if you get stuck. Or get a programmer paid to do this for you.

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Esti smecher!

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...via buffer transistors, and with a diode across the coil . . ?

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What EXACTLY do you need help with? Did you test with a SINGLE solenoid? Did you test each individual solenoid?

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yess

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yes, I tried it with one solenoid and each individual one.

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Then you are well on your way. What do you need help with?

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Wikipedia has a useful article on Braille ASCII including a table.

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So just to get this straight, you want to control 6 solenoids in the braille pattern that corresponds to the letter or digit it should represent.
You have the basics working.
Can you show us the schematic & that code you have used for testing ?
You will need to create an array that holds the braille information, and since it is 6 bit, an array of bytes will do.
And then every character will just need to be translated. It isn't hugely complicated, all that is needed is the understanding of a referencing to the proper data.

You will have to create a rule as to which dot is referenced by which bit in your byte.
As an example, you can say 'left top is 0, right top is 1, left middle is 2, right middle is 3 etc.' now for the letter 'E' that would mean, that the byte would be '001001' (i'm leaving bit 6 & 7 out, they are not used)
You can write it in the array as '0b001001' or just as '9' (8+1)

Now the next part is how to interface this with the user. If the user is you, i guess you could just write a section into sketch, but reading from Serial input also comes to mind, Then the question as to actually printing the braille is also a possibility, using a button press to skip through the chareters etc.

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I am concerned and would like the OP to respond. What is the duty cycle for your solenoids? Do you need to have heat sinks when one or more is powered up continuously? The user will pause operation for some time and then continue. What do the solenoids do when that occurs?

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Haha, you beat me to it.

A braille display is usually made with a row of braille cells (look for used ones on ebay).
Each braille cell has the six pins.

This has been done before on this site.
Enter "braille cell" or "braille display" in the search box on top of this page.
Leo..

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Those look like the easy way except for the piezo high voltage part.

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Same problem if you're building a nixie clock.
Leo..

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