S4A Blog

Snap4Arduino Arduino Sketch Generation

Tue, 09 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0200

We've always been reluctant to add such a feature because we believe the main reason tools like S4A and Snap4Arduino are successful is because they inherit their parent project's dynamic properties. That is, you still have a live environment while your board is plugged in, you enjoy immediate response, you don't lose parallelism and you don't need to compile or translate code into text and push it to the board to see what it does. Code is code regardless of whether you draw it, punch it into cards, stack blocks together or write it.

First List Ninja Contest

Tue, 19 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

We are launching the first S4A/Snap4Arduino List Ninja Contest as an effort to help newcomers learn their way towards prototyping mastery while rewarding those who offer their knowledge and expertise to them.

Yet another Snap4Arduino release

Thu, 14 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

This release, Snap4Arduino 1.0.4 beta, addresses an issue reported by Valentina Chinnici, which prevented users from accessing the Sounds, Costumes and Background libraries.

Snap4Arduino 1.0.3 beta

Wed, 13 May 2015 00:00:00 +0200

We have just released a new Snap4Arduino version that features a single improvement: now pin configurations happen automagically. You don't need to set up pins before using them anymore, Snap4Arduino will check whether the pin you asked for is set to the correct mode, and fix the problem otherwise.

Seniors can code too!

Wed, 22 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0200

This year, at the Citilab, we have committed to get all of our interest areas and work groups closer, and just this week we have started bringing together two projects: Edutec and Seniorlab.

Ultrasound Library for Snap4Arduino

Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0200

The next library is out, and this time allows you to control an ultrasound sensor like this one:

LCD Library for Snap4Arduino

Tue, 24 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0100

As promised, we are beginning to publish modified Firmata versions along with their block libraries for Snap4Arduino. This one allows you to control an LCD. Watch it in action:

Extending Firmata for Snap4Arduino

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Although Firmata is a very complete firmware for the Arduino board, from time to time we find ourselves needing extended funcionalities and wanting to use devices not supported by default by the protocol, such as LCD screens.

An Arduino car controlled via bluetooth with AppInventor

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0100

This simple robot receives a command via Bluetooth from an Android program written in AppInventor.

S4A Download Mirrors

Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Since we have sometimes experienced problems with our VPS provider, we've decided to set up some mirrors for all S4A files. We've also included previous versions, as some users had requested access to them.

Snap4Arduino for 64b GNU/Linux

Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0100

We love to receive contributions, especially if they allow new users to join our community. This time, thanks to Frank Hunleth, we have a 64 bits GNU/Linux version available!

New S4A release

Sun, 14 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0100

It's finally out!

Too much stuff for a single post

Tue, 18 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0100

We haven't written in a long while, but that's because we're actually too busy working on several different projects and have literally no time left for writing.

To recap, during these months we've:

Released Snap4Arduino 1.0 beta: With lots of bugfixes, new features and translations. As always, Ernesto Laval has been a priceless collaborator!
About to release S4A 1.6: The new version will feature a couple of new blocks (http and string manipulation), some bugfixes, a license correction and several new translations.
Beetleblocks: Bernat Romagosa is working on this awesome 3D generative modelling project with Jens Mönig, Eric Rosenbaum and Duks Koschitz. The first public version will be out by the end of this year, but in the meantime let us share a spoiler with you: Nautilius by Jens Mönig, and its material print.
Snappy: Basically, API and big data programming for Snap!. JSON inspectors and libraries to deal with a couple of default APIs, plus new primitive blocks that allow you to build your own libraries. The first public version will also be out by the end of this year.

Besides all this, we've been building an activity database that aims to collect all of our teaching experiences in the last 7 years at Citilab. This project involves so much time and work that we're not sure when it will be finished, let alone translated into three languages, but we're confident we'll manage somehow, someday.

Stay tuned!

Bluetooth Car in Snap4Arduino

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0200

This weekend we've been invited to the Maiker Faire Rome to give a workshop on Snap4Arduino, in which we wanted to get the kids to play with robotic cars (both ours and their MilkBots). Cables are really a nuissance when it comes to things with wheels, so we've been exploring how to connect the robots to some bluetooth modules we had laying around from an old project.

Getting ready for Scratch@MIT

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200

We'll be presenting Snap4Arduino at Scratch@MIT this year, so we've been pushing hard to fix some annoying issues before going on holiday.

Snap4Arduino 1.0 alpha released

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200

It took a little bit longer than expected, but we've finally released the first alpha version of Snap4Arduino!

A Laser lighthouse guiding a ship

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0200

We're still making preparations to release the new Snap4Arduino version, which has been delayed mainly because we've been busy finishing up the preparations for this year's TecnoEstiu. In the last post we showed a proof of concept in which two Arduinos communicated via Morse by means of a laser and a photoresistor.

Morse, Lasers and Snap4Arduino

Thu, 19 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0200

Snap4Arduino is evolving fast, and next week we'll be publishing a new version which we think is going to surprise everybody!

Snap4Arduino 0.48 pre-alpha is out

Fri, 30 May 2014 00:00:00 +0200

This week we've had time to focus on Snap4Arduino, which will be presented at Scratch@MIT this summer, and thus has to look presentable!

It's getting warm in Barcelona...

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200

So let's make an S4A program to fix that!

Tracing lines with Snap4Arduino

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200

The next obvious example was to build exactly the same robot but on Snap!, and so we did:

Look ma! No cables!

Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200

Although the main purpose of S4A is to let you interact with Arduino boards (meaning, things you do in the computer have an immediate, real-time effect on the board), the recent S4A version for RaspberryPi allows for a somewhat autonomus behaviour.

7-Segment display

Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200

There is a very particular citizen workgroup at Citilab called Nous Artesans (New Artisans). It is a very heterogenous group, formed by people with very different backgrounds, ages and skills, but with a common interest in tinkering and building things.

S4A has a blog

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200

Given the recent developments by the S4A team (kits on the way, Snap4Arduino, and many other things we're slowly cooking), we've thought it a good idea to start a blog where we can share our findings and advancements with everybody.

A line tracer in S4A

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0200

Yesterday we built this cute (and super slow!) line tracer robot in S4A, as an example of what you'll be able to do with the S4A Arduino Kits: