Interactive Environments

Introduction to Interactive Objects

Slides
Code

Houskeeping

Connect to wifi
Intstall This Driver: http://bit.ly/1FGNigh
Intstall Arduino: http://bit.ly/1R2xniM
Install nodeJS, www.nodejs.org

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

Most of us know what a computer looks like. It usually has a keyboard, monitor, CPU (Central Processing Unit), printer, and a mouse. These types of computers, like the Mac or PC, are primarily designed to communicate (or “interface”) with humans.

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

There are also little computers all around us, running program and quietly doing calculations, not interacting with humans at all. These computers are in your car, on the Space Shuttle, in a toy, and maybe even inside your hairdryer.

WHAT IS A MICROCONTOLLER:

We call these devices “microcontrollers”. Micro because they’re small, and controller because they “control” machines, gadgets, whatever !

They’re cool because, you can build a machine or device, write programs to control it and then let it work for you automatically. And they are cheap!

ARDUINO!

WHAT IS ARDUINO:

Arduino is an open source physical computing platform based on a simple input/output (I/O) board and a development environment that implements the Processing language (www.processing.org).

Arduino can be used to develop standalone interactive objects or can be connected to software on your computer (such as Flash, Processing, NodeJS or Max/MSP). !

ARDUINO TERMS

“sketch” – a program you write to run on an Arduino board
“pin” – an input or output connected to something. e.g. output to an LED, input from a knob.
“digital” – value is either HIGH or LOW. (aka on/off, one/zero) e.g. switch state
“analog” – value ranges, usually from 0-255. e.g. LED brightness, motor speed, etc.

WHAT IS ARDUINO:

We wont be using the Arduino Hardware today, But we will be using it's programming environment.

The ESP8266, the Arduino Killer

The ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi chip with full TCP/IP stack and microcontroller capability produced by Shanghai-based Chinese manufacturer, Espressif.

Arduino core for ESP8266 WiFi chip

This project brings support for ESP8266 chip to the Arduino environment. It lets you write sketches using familiar Arduino functions and libraries, and run them directly on ESP8266, no external microcontroller required.

Set Up Arduino for The ESP8266

For Your Reference

Go to Sketch->Include Libraries->Manage Libraries

Intall the ESP8266 and the Adafruit ESP66 Libraries

http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json

Huzzah!

Programming the Huzzah