Quickstart

Downloading and installing BrainBuilder is outlined here: Download and install BendyRoad BrainBuilder

In this guide, an example project is built with Arduino Uno board, a light sensor and an LED.

Go to Cloud, Login to connect your client to the BrainBuilder cloud service:

This will open the BendyRoad login page. Go to New User to create a login.

Pysically connect the board, and check that it is recognized and connected on the correct USB port in Options..Programmer tab:

The first block to add, is a development board. For example: Arduino Uno, Mega or Nano board, or Generic AVR-8.

If you have a Arduino Display shield or a generic LCD Display, you can add that too in the same way.

Arduino Uno and Mega have an on-board LED that is already configured and available as ‘led1’. Other LEDs can be added as Digital outputs.

With analog and digital input blocks you can define which sensors or switches are connected to which pins.

Example: For using an analog light sensor on analog input pin 1, use a Analog Input block, name it ‘Light’ and specify the port as ‘1’.

This automatically adds the variable Light. The list of variables on the right-hand side of the screen is updated with the new variable.

Digital output blocks are used to perform actions like operating a switch or turning on an LED. Example: For using a LED connected to Digital Output port ‘D12’, use a Digital Output block, name it ‘GreenLed’ and specify the port as ‘D12’.

Rule blocks specify actions based on conditions. For example, to switch ‘GreenLed’ on when the ‘Light’ level is less than 200, and off if the light level is higher than that, add a RuleBlock, name it ‘LedOn’ and the following rule:

if ( Light < 200 ) { Led = 1; } else { Led = 0 ; };

Input blocks implicitly make variables available with the name of that block. For example ‘Light’. But if it is easier to work with the inverse value, we can define a Global Variable with the name ‘LightInverted’ and type U16. Then we can add a Rule Block to set the variable ‘LightInverted’ to ‘1024 - Light’.

Add a ‘Screen’ under ‘Screen Definitions’. This will create a ‘Screen Item List’.

and define which variable should be displayed. For example, to show the ADC value from the light sensor on the display, specify the variable ‘Light’, and give it the label ‘L:'. The label is the text preceding the value of the variable on the LCD display. The label can be any text, but it has to be short enough to fit on the display.

Click ‘Firmware.. Generate’ to generate the firmware image. The ‘Flash’ option can be used when you want to flash a second devboard with the same firmware.

It’s convenient to create a folder to store your projects in. BendyRoad remembers the folder automatically.

You can enter project information on the Project Info page. There’s room for a description and notes.

You can drag and drop blocks to reorder them