Arduino projects and visual programming with Scratch

You can buy littlebits from here:
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Scratch Code blocks are a really easy and fun way to write code. We recently used the Littlebits Blockly code app for our Nerf target video. So we wanted to see if we could find a Scratch like coding app for our Arduino projects too.  In our search we came across ScratchX. ScratchX is a way to play with experimental extensions for Scratch. External devices can be linked with Scratch including Arduino boards. In theory!

Unfortunately we could not get the ScratchX extension to work at all let alone with our Littlebits Arduino. Moreover, the code block formats and the terminology was a little disappointing. so we wanted to find an alternative. If you have managed to get ScratchX Arduino extensions working then please let us know.

When it comes to teaching kids to program, the Arduino code language is quite tricky. This is because there is a lot of code necessary to initialise the pins of the Arduino board. This is a shame because the Arduino platform is extremely affordable. Therefore it has fewer barriers to learning electronics and programming.  Moreover the plethora of available circuits, sensors and components mean that you can build pretty much anything your imagination can conjure up. Therefore we did not want to give up searching for an alternative.  Even if we could get Scratch working, we still think the need to download and install Arduino firmware is a barrier. Hence alternative coding apps are very welcome indeed.

Queue ArduBlockly

Luckily we did find a nice and easy way to develop our Littlebits Arduino projects. It is based on Google Blockly and it is called ArduBlockly (great name huh?). Think of it as a Google Scratch! It has the same code blocks that you would expect to find in Scratch. When we compared it to the ScratchX Arduino extension we preferred the code blocks in ArduBlockly by far. ArduBlockly (aka Google Scratch) gets a thumbs up from us :)

ArduBlockly was forked by Carlos Sperate. A special thank you to Carlos for this fantastic app. With the power of Arduino you can bring your Blockly games to life in the physical world of IOT thanks to Carlos. The possibilities are endless.


Arduino Littlebits codesnap with ArduBlockly
Setting up ArduBlockly
The setup for ArduBlockly is much simpler than the Scratch extension. It doesn't require any Arduino firmware upload or browser plugins. Despite this, you don't even need to set anything up if you just want to get up and running quickly. All you need to do is install the Arduino IDE and the ArduBlockly app. Then you can simply snap your Blockly code blocks together. This will generate Arduino code that you can copy/paste into the Arduino IDE coding app and upload it to your Littlebits Arduino board.


ArduBlockly
Summary
In the video you can see how we use ArduBlockly with our Littlebits Arduino bit to create a simple circuit. Prototyping was easy enough with Littlebits before. But being able to program more complex logic almost as quickly as snapping circuits together makes this combination extremely powerful. Arduino programming has never been so easy. With Arduino you have the option to use any sensor you wish. Therefore tinkerers with no programming skills aren't limited to using Littlebits. ArduBlockly could be exactly what is needed if you have budget constraints too. Or perhaps you require components that aren't available as Littlebits. For example you may want to add camera capability to your circuit or a water pump for example.

Whether you are using Littlebits or not, ArduBlockly code blocks remove the tedium from the Arduino programming language. It makes it just as fun to snap logic together as it is to snap the circuits together with Littlebits.

check out some of our other youtube littlebits and engineering videos:

Nerf vs Littlebits:
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Dairy milk vs Littlebits:
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