industrialized

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andy Payne on August 17, 2013 at 9:38am

Hi Shahriar,

Sorry for my delay (I was traveling and only just returned this week).  You're question is a complicated one... as I'm not entirely sure what you mean by using it in a real-life project.  One of the features I've worked hard on is implementing the Arduino Code Generator tool, which will automatically attempt to write Arduino compatible code based on your visual Grasshopper definition.  In this way, you could prototype your skin system in Grasshopper... and when you got all of your parameters set, you can use the Code Generator to output the necessary code... which could then be uploaded to your Arduino board and your system could run as a stand alone project (without needing to be connected to the computer for communication... you would of course still need to provide power).

However, I'm not sure if this answered your question... or whether you were asking whether or not Firefly could be used to construct an actual building system controller.  I think in general terms... the answer is probably no.  There are a number of reasons for this.  First, Firefly primarily works with the Arduino microcontroller... which is meant to be flexible and allows for people to be able to re-write the code on the chip to control it in different ways (making prototyping much faster)... however, it might be risky having this re-write feature accessible in a general building system (it opens up risk by having people possibly overwrite the code and change the entire control system).  Also, Arduino is really just the gateway drug of electronics.  Once you get started, you'll find that there are much more powerful microcontrollers and chips which offer many more advanced features that the Arduino just can't provide (at least not yet).  That's not to say you can't do some advanced things with an Arduino... it's just building systems usually use much more sophisticated controllers and communication protocols.

I think the real benefit of Firefly/Arduino/Grasshopper is its ability to help you prototype an idea.  You can certainly make some very sophisticated systems... but scaling up to the building scale (where you have to have networks of systems working together) can be much more tricky.  But, prototyping for designers is incredibly important (I believe) and allows you to work through many different problems of the design implementation.  

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure this answered your question, but perhaps you could clarify what you're looking for and I'll try to provide a response.

Best,

Andy

Permalink Reply by Andy Payne on August 17, 2013 at 11:19am

Yes... unfortunately, this can be the reality.  The reason your arduino code wont work on other chips is that they are configured differently... they have a different number of pins and pin configurations and some have completely different architectures (ARM chips for example vs. ATmega which is what's in the Arduino Uno).  It's a tricky trade-off because Arduino is made for beginning level electronics.  It's great because it isn't difficult to get started and it lowers the barrier for entry... however, it's limited in some ways too.  More advanced electronic circuits offer more power, communication control, speed, etc... but they're more complicated to setup.  It's possible for you to learn the more advanced systems yourself (I've done a fair number of circuit designs including wireless communication for building control systems as part of my dissertation)... but unfortunately there's no magic bullet which will make designing and implementing a full building-scale control system in an easy intuitive design software package.  As much as I would like to see this happen in the future... there's a reason why electrical engineers go to school for as long as they do :)