Arduino boards are modern electrical construction kits that can produce smart devices and technical innovations using circuit boards, chips, sensors, input and output elements and other parts. The disadvantage for hobbyists who are primarily familiar with the hardware: it also has to be programmed on the software side. If you want to make this easier for yourself and / or want to offer the children an introduction to using Arduino, XOD could be something for you. XOD offers simple programming via drag and drop (similar to Lego Mindstorms Apps for Mac and iPad) - currently only in English, but at least.
Chapter in this post:
XOD - "Visual Programming Language" for Arduino
Already on the Home page of the offer from XOD you will find the documentation of a smart Arduino project, which can be understood even without knowledge of English. A sensor is placed in a flower pot to measure the moisture in the soil. The value is assigned to the plant (cactus) and it is shown that there are reactions to watering the same. That is not yet the smart thing - because afterwards a control value or if it falls below it is linked to the activation of a water pump. The use of several sensors, pumps and hoses now results in a casting system.
The individual drag-and-drop programming steps are shown to the left of the images and GIF files that illustrate the project for watering plants described. I am sure that you can internalize the individual commands quickly if you learn them a little and use them again and again. Especially as a new hobby or for introducing children to programming, robotics and automation, this also seems to me to be a very nice thing. XOD as a visual alternative to pure text programming helps a lot.
Supported hardware
There are different components, extensions, sensors, buttons, displays and so on for Arduino boards. You can read with which accelerometer, thermometer, distance meter, humidity sensor and other components XOD can be used in this list. There you will not only find the names and descriptions of the components and their compatibility, but (if you click on the component names) also the commands and links that are possible with XOD. So you can check before the download whether the XOD programming software is something for your Arduino project.
Useful links to Arduino and XOD
- Official website for Arduino
- XOD extension YouTube Channel (only a few videos so far)
- XOD extension Blog with current information
- German instructions for Arduino (PDF from 2016)
Buy Arduino boards and kit sets
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After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.
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