Mixels

code for running magnetic pixel printer and scanner

This is the code used for the magnetic pixels research done in MIT CSAIL HCIE Labs. The project uses reprogrammable magnetic material, and prints magnetic patterns on the material using the snapmaker as a 3D movement device and an arduino to control various sensors and electromagnet components.

needed libraries:

• pickle
• numpy
• matplotlib
• tkinter
• system
• serial
• pandas
• qrcode
• PIL
• cv2

mixels_terminal.py

This file contains the MovementController class which contains the functions for printing and scanning magentic patterns.

The file currently runs a program called run_sensor which allows for all functionality of both printing and scanning. Before running this program it is important to make note of certain variables which will need to be changed to suit the setup of the user.

1. Sensor and Printer COMs are set up in the init. Before running the program, change these values to the COMs used for your device. Remember that the sensor COM is for the connection to the arduino and the printer COM is for the connection to the 3d printer used for movement.
2. Inside the run_sensor program, a filename is needed for the array which is to be plotted onto the magentic material. This file can be downloaded from the mixels webpage. Before running the program, remember to change the filename in the run_sensor program to the name and location of the proper file.
3. In the init, the variables mag_height and hall_height should be changed based on the calibration of the device. if the material is elevated, the value will have to be recallibrated to account for the new distance. mag_height is for printing patterns and hall_height is for scanning. Before running the program, calibrate and change the heights.

When all of these changes have been made nd the program is properly set up and calibrated, the program can be run. Below are the instructions for the commands that need to be inputed to the terminal after running the program.

1. after pressing run: enter p for plotting mode and s for scanning mode.
2. 1. in plot mode: The program will read the array of matrices from a pkl file and ask for a number input denoting which matrix in the file to print example matrices not from a file are also provided in the comments
   2. in scan mode: The program will display an image and heat map produced from the scan. The threshold value for the scan can be changed in the program make_img. This program also produces pkl files containg the scanned matrix. The filenames can be changed there

mixel_arduino.ino

This file contains the arduino code coresponding to mixels_terminal.py no values need to be changed in this code.

Mixels_WebUI

This folder containes all of the files needed to set up the web_ui server for generating hadamard patterns. In order to set up the website, go into the folder and follow the directions on the ReadMe there.

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