Published March 2, 2018 © GPL3+

Minecraft Sword for Real Life

Use an actual Minecraft sword to control the character onscreen. When you swing the sword the sword onscreen also swings.

IntermediateFull instructions provided3 hours1,219

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Espressif ESP8266 ESP-12E

SparkFun 9DoF Sensor Stick

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Autodesk Fusion 360

Hand tools and fabrication machines

CNC Router

Story

Tinkernut recently did a live comments show where he was looking for suggestions from his audience for new projects. He mentioned doing a project where a person could swing a sword in real life that would cause a sword in Minecraft to also swing. Here is that project.

Design

I started this project by going into Fusion 360 and inserting an image of a basic Minecraft sword. Then I traced it to create an outline of the sword. After extruding the shape I generated GCode from it for use in my CNC router. Additionally, I created a PCB using Eagle that would use an ESP8266 ESP12e and Bluetooth to communicate with the PC.

Creating the Sword

I cut out the sword design on my CNC router and then traced the sword onto some foam. I then sandwiched the foam between the plywood pieces. Finally, I painted the sword by first drawing the "pixels" and following the iron sword design.

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The PCB and Electronics

After using chilipeppr.com to generate GCode from my PCB design, I milled a blank copper-coated FR4 board using a 1/32inch router bit. Next, I soldered on the ESP12e module and other connectors.

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I then attached the board to the sword (my ESP12e module was broken).

The Code

There is code needed for both the ESP12e and the host PC. The ESP12e simply reads accelerometer data from the Sparkfun 9DoF stick and if it exceeds 2g of force it sends a message over serial. The Python script runs on the host PC. It waits for the serial data from the ESP12e and then uses pyautogui to click the mouse.

Using It

All that is needed is for a user to simply plug in the module into the PC, run the python script, and then have fun! Just swing the sword and the Minecraft character will swing it's sword as well.

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Code

#include <Wire.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <SparkFunLSM9DS1.h>

LSM9DS1 imu;
#define LSM9DS1_M  0x1E 
#define LSM9DS1_AG  0x6B

#define PRINT_SPEED 500

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
  Wire.begin(4,5);
  Serial.begin(115200);
  imu.settings.device.commInterface = IMU_MODE_I2C;
  imu.settings.device.mAddress = LSM9DS1_M;
  imu.settings.device.agAddress = LSM9DS1_AG;
  if (!imu.begin())
  {
    Serial.println("Failed to communicate with LSM9DS1.");
    Serial.println("Double-check wiring.");
    Serial.println("Default settings in this sketch will " \
                  "work for an out of the box LSM9DS1 " \
                  "Breakout, but may need to be modified " \
                  "if the board jumpers are.");
    while (1)
      ;
  }
}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
if ( imu.accelAvailable() )
  {
    // To read from the accelerometer, first call the
    // readAccel() function. When it exits, it'll update the
    // ax, ay, and az variables with the most current data.
    imu.readAccel();
  }
  if(abs(imu.calcAccel(imu.ax))>1.9 || abs(imu.calcAccel(imu.ay))>1.9 || abs(imu.calcAccel(imu.az)) > 1.9){
      Serial.println("hit");
      delay(PRINT_SPEED);
    }
}

Credits

Evan Rust

120 projects • 1053 followers

IoT, web, and embedded systems enthusiast. Contact me for product reviews or custom project requests.

Minecraft Sword for Real Life

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Design

Creating the Sword

The PCB and Electronics

The Code

Using It

Schematics

Schematic

Code

ESP8266 Code

Python Code

Credits

Evan Rust

Comments

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Minecraft Sword for Real Life

Minecraft Sword for Real Life

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Design

Creating the Sword

The PCB and Electronics

The Code

Using It

Schematics

Schematic

Code

ESP8266 Code

Python Code

Credits

Evan Rust

Comments

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