Before we started using Firmata and Firmata4j in the EECS 1021 class, Richard Robinson and I put together lab activities that used the Fazecast jSerialComm library paired with customized Arduino serial code. The approach is summarized in three videos: Video 1: The Plan for Sending Data to an Arduino We need to send information, in […]
A challenge that new engineering students have when developing programs is trying to determine how to plan out their program. Should the student include a loop? Two loops? One after the other? One inside another? When adding sensors and actuators -- as we do in our course -- when should the sensor be read and […]
In the previous post I showed you how to use VPL and simAVR together to write a basic activity that would test to see if a student could change or assign the value of a register in the simulated microcontroller using the C programming language. While it was the most straight-forward way that I could […]
In Computer Architecture classes or Embedded Systems classes, it can be really useful to allow for students to be graded on assignments that allow them to interactively explore the inner workings of a microprocessor. One way is to have the students create programs in a hardware description language like Verilog or VHDL. Another way is […]
In my EECS 1021 class, in which we connect Java programs on a Mac or Windows machine with programs running on an Arduino-compatible board, we generally use Firmata. When combined with a library like Firmata4j (Java) or pyFirmata (Python), or Arduino-Octave (Matlab), Firmata provides an easy-to-use pathway for this to happen. It is, however, a […]
Arduino devices are commonplace in Engineering programs. Even if the profs don't use them, the students do. In Engineering programs, we often need to set up sensor monitoring or motor control systems. If students haven't worked with these in the first through third years of their programs, they are likely to encounter them in the […]
Firmata is a set of Arduino projects that are aimed at helping solve a particular class of problems with embedded devices: having a main computer send and receive data from an Arduino, typically in a simple control or data-logging application. This is similar to how people use the Arduino support for Matlab. In Java we […]
[Updated March 2024] EECS 1011 (and 1021) Lab Kit The EECS 1011 kit is available for purchase from the York University Bookstore. The link for all lab kits at the Bookstore is here. As soon as it is available your course instructor will let you know. While the official kit is designed to work for […]
EECS 2021 Lab Kit The EECS 2021 lab requires you to have both (1) the Grove board with an ATMEGA328P chip on it (you got it as a part of the EECS 1011/21 lab kit last year), as well as (2) a Snap programmer. The Grove kit (officially called the "Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino") […]
This page is about programming ATMEGA328 chips, like the one found on the Arduino UNO, using modern (post 2015) tools like MPLAB X and the Snap or PICKit4 debuggers. As of July 2021 there is a little hiccup in how to do this. Hopefully in the future Microchip will fix the issue and render this […]