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Firmata

Firmata is a protocol for communicating with microcontrollers from software on a computer (or smartphone/tablet, etc).

The FirmataBoard (Devices) node is able to talk to any microcontroller board (like Arduino, Teensy, Particle.io, ...) that is loaded with the Firmata firmware or uses the Firmata library.

For example, this is how to setup an Arduino Board:

  • Open the Arduino IDE, choose File > Examples > Firmata > StandardFirmata.
  • Choose your 'Board' and the 'Port' under the 'Tools'.
  • Click Upload. Your Arduino is ready.


The FirmataBoard (Devices) node in action.

An Overview


Basic setup.

The extensive helppatch of FirmataBoard (Devices) explains all the details regarding reading and writing data, as well as some advanced topics like using the I2C protocol or a custom Firmata firmware. Here is just a short overview:

  • Use DigitalWrite (Firmata), AnalogWrite (Firmata) or ServoWrite (Firmata) nodes to set the pins of the board.

  • Use DigitalRead (Firmata) and AnalogRead (Firmata) nodes to get values from the board's pins.

  • Use the Sysex Messages output to receive different 'Sysex Messages' sent back by the microcontroller board. Some Sysex decoders are already there (StringDecoder (Firmata), CapabilityResponse (Firmata), ...)

  • The FirmataBoard (Devices) is able to talk to any microcontroller board loaded with the standard Firmata firmware without any further configuration. In the Arduino-world such Firmata firmware is called "StandardFirmata".

  • Have some custom Firmata running on your chip? Just provide the configuration manually using the BoardConfig (Firmata).

The nodes were developed together with jens.a.e, author of the original (now legacy) Arduino (Devices StandardFirmata 2.x) node.

Examples in your vvvv\ directory:

  • girlpower\IO\Arduino
  • girlpower\VL\Firmata

See also: