Project: Darth-Vader-RPi

Darth-Vader-RPi (v0.1.0a0) is a Python-based Raspberry Pi (RPi) project about activating a Darth Vader action figure by turning on LEDs on his suit and lightsaber, and by playing sounds such as some of his famous quotes.

Turning on/off the lightsaber

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Connection diagram
3. Dependencies
4. Installation instructions
5. Usage
   1. Script start_dv
   2. Simulating on your computer
6. Credits
   1. Sounds
   2. Others
7. Resources
8. References

1. Introduction

The Darth Vader action figure is 11.5 inches tall (which is this one from Hasbro) and was modified to make it more lifelike by illuminating the lightsaber, chest control box, and belt. 3 push buttons control the following sounds and LEDs:

1. Some of his famous quotes

2. The Imperial march theme song

3. The lightsaber drawing, hum and retraction sounds

4. The lightbsaber illumination (3 LEDs)

His iconic breathing sound plays in the background indefinitely almost as soon as the RPi is run with the start_dv script.

Click on the above image for the full video to see the LEDs turning on and hear the different sounds produced by pressing the push buttons

2. Connection diagram

Here’s how the various LEDs and push buttons are connected to the Raspberry Pi:

• The lightsaber is illuminated by 3 LEDs connected in parallel

• The Top, Middle, and Bottom LEDs illuminate the slots in Darth Vader’s chest control box. They blink in a specific sequence as specified in the configuration file.

• When the Lightsaber button is first pressed, it produces the drawing sound, illuminates the sword, and a hum sound persists until the Lightsaber button is turned off. If the button is pressed again, it produces the sound of retracting the lightsaber and turns it off.

  NOTE: the Lightsaber button can be pressed while the Song button or the Quotes button is playing audio since they use different audio channels.

• The Song button plays the Imperial March song by Jacob Townsend

• The Quotes button plays famous Darth Vader quotes when pressed. For testing purposes, the darth_vader_rpi package comes with two movie lines:

  • “I am your father” (YouTube)

  • “Nooooo” (YouTube): it is also used for the closing sound when the start_dv script exits

  However, you could add more quotes if you want.

3. Dependencies

• Platforms: macOS, Linux

• Python: 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8

• Packages

  • dv_sounds>=0.1.0a0: for retrieving the sound files (quotes, songs, and sound effects).

  • pygame>=1.9.3: for playing sounds.

  • pynput>=1.6.8: needed by SimulRPi for monitoring the keyboard when simulating push buttons with keyboard keys, i.e. when running the start_dv script in simulation mode.

  • SimulRPi>=0.1.0a0: for partly faking RPI.GPIO and simulating I/O devices connected to an RPi such as LEDs and push buttons in case that you don’t have access to an RPi.

4. Installation instructions

1. It is highly recommended to install darth_vader_rpi in a virtual environment using for example venv or conda.

2. Make sure to update pip:

   $ pip install --upgrade pip

   
   

3. Install the package darth_vader_rpi (released version 0.1.0a0) with pip:

   $ pip install git+https://github.com/raul23/Darth-Vader-RPi@v0.1.0a0#egg=Darth-Vader-RPi

   
   

   It will install the dependencies if they are not already found in your system.

5. Usage

5.1 Script start_dv

Once the darth_vader_rpi package is installed, you should have access to the start_dv script which turns on LEDs and plays sound effects on a Raspberry Pi (RPi).

Run the script on your RPi with default values for the GPIO channels and other settings:

$ start_dv

If you want to test the script on your computer (use the -s flag for simulation):

$ start_dv -s

To display the script’s list of options and their descriptions:

$ start_dv -h

5.2 Simulating on your computer

If you don’t have access to a Raspberry Pi (RPi) and want to try out the start_dv script, you can run it with the -s flag. It will make use of the SimulRPi library to simulate LEDs and push buttons connected to an RPi by blinking red dots in the terminal and monitoring pressed keyboard keys:

$ start_dv -s

NOTE: the last command makes use of default values. See Change default settings on how to change these values.

Here’s how the keyboard keys are related by default to push buttons connected to an RPi:

• cmd_l —–> lightsaber button

• alt_l —–> song button

• alt_r —–> quotes button

Check Change keymap if you want to change this default key-to-channel mapping.

Here is a video of what it looks like in a terminal when running the start_dv script on a computer instead of an RPi:

Click on the above image for the full video

6. Credits

6.1 Sounds

• Darth Vader quotes:

  • “I am your father” (YouTube)

  • “Nooooo” (YouTube)

• Music:

  • Imperial March song by Jacob Townsend is licensed under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) License

    NOTE: The original song file was reduced under 1 MB by removing the first 7 seconds (no sound) and the last 2 minutes and 24 seconds.

• Sound effects:

  • Darth Vader breathing sound (YouTube)

  • Darth Vader’s lightsaber sound effect (YouTube)

  • Darth Vader’s lightsaber retraction sound effect (YouTube)

6.2 Others

• Schematic:

  • Scheme-it from Digi-Key Electronics is an online schematic and diagramming tool that allows anyone to design and share electronic circuit diagrams.

• Slot LEDs sequences:

  • Empire Strikes Back chest box light sequence

7. Resources

• Darth-Vader-RPi documentation

• Darth-Vader-RPi Changelog

• Darth-Vader-RPi GitHub: source code

8. References

• dv_sounds: a package for downloading the various sounds needed for the project, e.g. ligthsaber sound effects.

• pygame: a Python library to write multimedia software, such as games, built on top of the SDL library.

• RPI.GPIO: a module to control RPi GPIO channels.

• SimulRPi: a package that partly fakes RPi.GPIO and simulates some I/O devices on a Raspberry Pi. It makes use of the pynput library for monitoring the keyboard for any pressed key.