This challenging project (for me) has been on & off the shelf several times over the years. The 2025 Spring Clean project proposals are fantastic, I was inspired to give this project another go.
Several of my past Maker projects were so popular at exhibitions, they were kept functional and I started to combine some of them into a SciFi theme.
Working towards a spacesuit theme, a FUNCTIONAL forearm mounted command console ( somewhat like the Predator wears) was one prop I thought would be totally unique and inspiring.
Original Concept
A Raspberry Pi 3 with Touchscreen (which I already have in a drawer for yearly Pi Day Demos) would be programmed to have selections for displaying data environmental gauges ( for example life support external radiation, Temperature, gasses, humidity, heading, pressure, gyros, magnetic fields) of the space suit, and all of the Lost in Space vehicles: Jupiter 2, the chariot, the landing pod, and the B9 robot ). The command console would also need to detect danger from approaching objects and galactic anomalies.
Some video visuals could be included like a live action movie rather than just a bunch of meters and brush recorder charts. This project IS REQUIRED to have a old fashion radar screen. The intent is to be futuristic, but also humorous, with a mashup of references to sci fi movies
No fantasy, why not make it functional as possible ? I have a Nicla ME & Nicla Vision that maybe could connect by Bluetooth.I also have a nice variety of sensors on hand to feed local data, to start with will use MPU6050 gyro and accelerometer, HMC5883 magnetometer, and a NiclaME.
Reality kicks in
To get this project done in my lifetime, I'm going to need alot of open source help, and some evaluation of what can be done in progressive steps.
The Raspberry Pi 7 inch touchscreen does not have audio, the touch matrix resolution looks like a max of 10 PBs for the entire screen, they'd be big buttons, and the programming task looks daunting. I'll replace that touchscreen hardware with a 7 inch TonTec HDMI TV (which I have for another past project idea ) and use discrete pushbuttons to make progress. I kept the RPi3 paired with its touchscreen, and got out another RPi3 - which of course has old FW, had to reformat its SD card , reload raspbian and the zillion python libraries loaded over time that I just assumed are there :-)
I also have a good supply of project programs I wrote for Raspberry Pi Pico that could maybe be used as reference.....no of course micropython is a different beast, and I cant reuse those as is.
I found a freeware site for radar mp4s , and I lost the link to it, intending to provide the artist credit. Using MovieMaker to add the sonar ping audio mp4 , https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/radar/, (another bit of subtle humor) and looping the radar video for a couple minutes play time rather than strictly relying on RPi for cycling.
Experimenting and getting the VLC to play a video was a challenge in itself, Raspberry Pi 3 had issues updating my big HDMI monitor (I cant read the 7 inch display well enough to write python code on it) so I replaced it with a RPi4. New/old issue, the RPi4 had been used for a facial recognition demo project, also had old SW, another round to reformat the SD card, reload raspian, and try to remember the myriad of python libraries I assume are already loaded. No wonder these projects get shelved.
By the way, using Arduino IDE, C code sequencing can be written just like writing a boolean logic equation or its ladder logic equivalent, but python.....no way buster. The Logic_py library didn't cooperate installing, so I changed the input pushbuttons from tp223b to tp223. The logic doesn't work exactly the way I want, but gets the job done.
https://github.com/werner-duvaud/nicla-sense-me-i2c is my open source provider for using the NiclaME on the raspberry pi i2c bus. My first issue was loading the NiclaME with code, as my Arduino IDE libraries needed updated, thank you to ralphjy for advice on the IDE Nicla ME standalone i2c to Raspberry Pi - easy open source code to read sensors - I still havent got Nicla working on I2C. I fumble around in loading libraries, as some load into python directly, and some message about installing into python project environments. I set the project up as an enviroment, but not sure if I enable it properly. The library I'm fighting with is Blinka , which I used before with RPi Pico without issue.
I also accidently grabbed a power only cable rather than a data cable to load the MiclaME, which took me quite awhile to realize :-)
In the meantime, MPU6050 and HMC5883 will be used for sensor data. The RPi can see those on i2c and data can be read from them. That MP6050 open source code is from machinelearning.com , the HMC5883 is from how 2 electronics.com
Another library I wanted to leverage was Logic_Py, it also complained but maybe is not compatible with raspian load or my understanding of python environments ?
bharath5673/inclinometer gauge created an open source code for the inclinometer using openCV , which I did get loaded and it works ! sadly it takes many seconds to load and print the display to the screen, and I hadnt even modified the gyro sensor variables to it yet. Its a nice example, and I may have to use tKinter (and my no knowledge learnng curve) .
Leap to the Present State of the Forearm mounted Command Console
Here is a video of the functioning mockup and functioning of 2 videos controlled by TP223 touchswitches and some photos. The video also shows live data of MPU6050 and HMC5883
Moving forward
Continue working to get Nicla functional on i2C
Use kTinter to create an inclinometer and compass display
Use kTinter to create meter for atmospheric temperature , gasses, and pressure
Use EVA foam to built an ergonomic forearm enclosure for the display, RPi, batteries, and a buck power supply. I already have a breakout cable for powering the Raspberry Pi.
