October Meeting

[riftware]

Student Union Building Room 2623

This month we're back to our regular 1st Monday meeting but we will be in a different room than usual.   Our topic will be inspired by my latest hobby and deals with Java and Real World Interaction.    I will present an overview of the opensource Arduino microprocessing kit and demonstrate programming and interacting with it from Java.    For those that aren't familiar with these kits the Arduino kits and compatible build on the ATMega microprocessors and make it easy for hobbyist to interact with the real world.   Depending on the kit or chipset you get the ability to easily read from various sensors and also to cause things to happen by driving motors or actuators.   All of this happens by creating simple circuits that don't require a lot of electrical know-how and programming them in the "Processing" language which is very much like C.   This development is done inside a Java Development environment.   Once you've downloaded your program onto the microprocessor you can write java programs on your computer that talk to the Arduino over a serial connection allowing you do more complex tasks or place the bulk of decision making in your favorite language such as java.   

I look forward to seeing everyone this month!

Andrew Chandler.