FIGURE 1. An assortment of character LCD displays
that are widely available in 16, 24, and 40 character
formats with one to five lines that can easily be
connected to a VEX microcontroller. The large blue
high resolution LCD that can easily be connected to
the controller’s UART.
connected to the VEX controller’s UART.
VEX Character LCD Display Applications
The character LCD display can be used by
hobbyists to display sensor data, such as: distances to
objects reported back from the VEX ultrasonic ranger;
accelerometer values; and battery voltage levels. It can
also be used for displaying accelerometer readings, tilt
angles, battery voltages, temperature, sensors, or even
the latest encoder counts returned from a particular
motor connected to a VEX encoder. It can be used to
display messages (like “Hello World”) and commands
sent to a VEX robot (see Figure 2).
Another advantage to using an LCD is that they
don’t consume much power from the microcontroller.
This helps the robot application run longer as
FIGURE 2. An LCD can be used to display sensor
data such as distances to objects reported back from
an ultrasonic ranger. The latest encoder counts
returned from a particular motor connected to a
VEX encoder, warning messages to the operator,
and commands sent to a robot.
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