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callums005 / unity-arduino-communication

MIT License
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Unity & Arduino Wired Communication

This project is to help set up the basics of communicating between the Unity Game Engine and an Arduino. If you find any issues with the program please create an issue here I will try to respond to any as soon as possible.

Prerequisites

  1. You have a basic understanding of small electronics and the arduino.
  2. You have a basic understanding of the Unity Game Engine and C# programming.
  3. You are not a beginner to computing science. I will not explain the very basics of how computers work or how to program a game.

  4. This is ONLY for communication between unity and an arduino, this is not to do anything fancy or make a full game or controller.

    You will need

    • A computer that can run Unity and an IDE or text editor.
    • Arduino IDE (Any version).
    • An Arduino that has is supported. (An Arduino Uno was used during the development).
    • An LED of any colour.
    • Resistors for an LED and a 10K ohm resistor.
    • A momentery button.
    • Male to Male wires (3 coloured, 2 black).

    • A breadboard.

      Supported Versions & Hardware

Unity

Version Link
2021.2.19f1 Windows • Mac • Linux

Arduino

Board Supported Buy Credit
Arduino Uno R3 Yes store.arduino.cc @callums005
Arduino Mega R3 Unknown store.arduino.cc
Arduino Leonardo Unknown store.arduino.cc
Arduino Micro Unknown store.arduino.cc
Arduino Zero Unknown store.arduino.cc
Arduino Nano Unknown store.arduino.cc
Raspberry Pi (All Selection) No @callums005

If you have any boards on this list that have been given the Unknown support tag, please try and open an issue telling me the result, I will update the table with your findings and credit (if the username is offensive I will not credit, and I will not take credit myself).

Source Code

File Link
Unity Main Script Controller.cs
Arduino Main Script Controller.ino

How it works

The program takes advantage of the arduino serialization functionality, it will during the arduino's program lifetime, it will read data using the Serial.readBytes() functionality, converting it to an array of characters. At the end of each loop it will output any data using the Serial.println() functionality.

The Unity project will write any data stored in a string to the arduino making use of System.IO.Ports. It will then read in any incoming data to a sepearte string. This is all done on a seperate thread to the main game loop to prevent the game from freezing. The strings are used to send data from the main game thread to the second thread and the other way around.

DISCLAIMER

This code is not malicious however I am not responsibe for any damage done to your computer. This code was written on the 15th of June 2022, for the Unity Game Engine version 2021.2.19f1. I will try to fix any issues with later version, please open an issue if you find one or need help, I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. This is a community project therefore you are able to write code or maintain the code if you wish. I have no objegation to maintain this program, however I will try to.

Have fun! Thank-You!