Robot3D prints
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I followed instructions from Make magazine (Volume 67) and I made a word clock.

I also started a code project for discovering ways to place words on a grid. With all possible optimization like shaping words in a form of crossword. Check out code in the of this post.

Acryl is ready

Why

It will stay on the table and will show time when I need to head out of the office.

Process

Ordered laser cut

Peel it

Bought screws and adafruit boards. In the original instructions it used Trinket Pro 5V (ATmega328), but I followed the deprecation warning and chose Adafruit ItsyBitsy 32u4 - 5V 16MHz (Atmega32u4). Imprtant difference between them: the latter is missing mount holes which is the only way to attach the board to the acrylic case inside. I put it inside the case loosely, thus the USB connector become impossible to connect back once you unplug it, so one USB cable took roots in this build for a long time.

The case parts

How do you call screen that does not display time with digits, but tells it with words?

Result

The case is assembled

The clock is working.

It shows words

Code experiments

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <iterator>
#include <algorithm>
#include <random>

using BagOfWords = std::vector<std::string>;

BagOfWords sort_words_by_length(const BagOfWords& w) {
    BagOfWords x(w);
    std::sort(
        std::begin(x),
        std::end(x),
        [](const std::string& a, const std::string& b){
            return a.length() < b.length();
        });
    return x;
}

std::vector<BagOfWords> groups_in_length(const BagOfWords& words, int max_length) {
    auto sorted = sort_words_by_length(words);
    std::vector<BagOfWords> groups;
    for (const auto& w : sorted) {
        BagOfWords group;
        group.push_back(w);
        auto total_length = w.length();
        for (const auto& w2 : sorted) {
            if (total_length + w2.length() <= max_length) {
                groups.push_back(group);
                groups.back().push_back(w2);
            }
        }
    }
    return groups;
}

int main() {
  const int side = 9;
  std::vector<BagOfWords> clock(side, BagOfWords(side, "_"));
  
  BagOfWords words = {
    "quarter", "half", "past", "to",
    
    "twenty", "ten", "five", "twelve",
    "one", "two", "three", "four", "five",
    "six", "seven", "eight", "nine", "ten",
    "eleven"
  };
  
  auto sorted = sort_words_by_length(words);
  auto it = sorted.begin();
  for (int i = 0; i < side; ++i) {
    for (int j = 0; j < side; ++j) {
      if (it->length() < side - j) {
        auto c = clock[i].begin();
        std::advance(c, j);
        std::copy(it->begin(), it->end(), c);
        j+=it->length() - 1;
        ++it;
      }
    }
  }

  for (int i = 0; i < side; ++i) {
    for (int j = 0; j < side; ++j) {
      std::cout << clock[i][j] << " ";
    }
    std::cout << std::endl;
  }

//   auto groups = groups_in_length(words, side);
//   std::random_device device;
//   std::mt19937 generator(device());
//   std::shuffle(std::begin(groups), std::end(groups), generator);
//   auto it = groups.begin();
//   BagOfWords clock2;
//   for (int i = 0; i < side; ++i) {
//       std::string s = std::accumulate(it->begin(), it->end(), std::string());
//       clock2.push_back(s);
//   }

//   for (int i = 0; i < side; ++i) {
//     for (int j = 0; j < side; ++j) {
//       std::cout << clock2[i][j] << " ";
//     }
//     std::cout << std::endl;
//   }

  return 0;
}

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