Table of Contents

Arduino Library and API

Installing the Arduino Library

Download the latest Arduino library “arduino_pixy-x.y.z.zip” here. Bring up the Arduino IDE and import the Pixy library by selecting Sketch➜Import Library in the Arduino IDE, and then browse to the Arduino zip file that you just downloaded.

Updating the Arduino Library

Before installing a new version of the Arduino Library, it's recommended that you delete the existing library. To do this, you can go into your C:\Users\<yourname>\Documents\Arduino\libraries (or similar directory, <yourname>/Documents/Arduino in OSX and Linux) and remove the Pixy directory. Then re-run the Arduino IDE.

Arduino API

Include files

Be sure to include these two files:

#include <SPI.h>
#include <Pixy.h>

Instantiation

You need to declare an instance of a Pixy object outside of your setup() and loop() functions:

Pixy pixy;

uint16_t getBlocks(uint16_t maxBlocks=1000)

The most important method in the Arduino library is getBlocks(), which returns the number of objects Pixy has detected. You can then look in the pixy.blocks[] array for information about each detected object (one array member for each detected object.) Each array member (i) contains the following fields:

getBlocks() accepts an optional number argument (uint16_t) that indicates the maximum number of blocks you want getBlocks() to return.

int8_t setServos(uint16_t s0, uint16_t s1)

This method sets the pan/tilt servos that are plugged into Pixy's two servo ports. The two arguments s0 and s1 can range from 0 to 1000.

int8_t setBrightness(uint8_t brightness)

This method sets the brightness (exposure) of Pixy's camera. The brightness argument can range between 0 and 255 with 255 being the brightest setting.

int8_t setLED(uint8_t r, uint8_t g, uint8_t b)

This method sets the RGB LED on front of Pixy. The r, g and b arguments can range between 0 and 255.