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Batsignal - how it works

• someone/a user sends a twitter message with #batsignal

• a Java app running on a laptop/PC checks twitter messages x times per minute

• when a message with #batsignal is detected

• sends notification over serial port to Arduino

• Arduino checks notifications ever x times per minute

• when a notification gets detected

• LED is turned on for x minutes

Batsignal - what you need

It is expected that you compile the Java code before running. So there is no binaries i.e. xxx.jar file To simply run in a shell/command line. So below you find everything listed including development tools.

Hardware

• Arduino (Uno?)

• PC running Windows or Linux with internet access

• USB cable (as a serial connection between PC and Arduino)

Software

• Arduino IDE

• Java JRE - 32 bit

• Java SE, EE, ... - 32 bit

• (Eclipse - 32 bit) or another preferred IDE for Java

Batsignal - on the inside

Arduino application

The Arduino application is a very few lines of code, listening to the serial port and lighting up an LED in case it registers any incoming messages.

Java application

The Java application is meant to run on a Linux or Windows machine connected to the Arduino via a serial connection. It listens to Twitter and singles out recent messages with "#batsignal" in it. When a batsignal-message is found, it fires a signal/message to the serial port and therefore to the Arduino.

Within Java, additional libraries have been used:

• twitter4j

• rxtx (serial) 32-bit or also a fork at mfizz

Batsignal - get it running

Installation