[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]S4A is a Scratch modification that allows for simple programming of the Arduino open source hardware platform. It provides new blocks for managing sensors and actuators connected to Arduino.

The main aim of the project is attracting people to the programming world. The goal is also to provide a high level interface to Arduino programmers with functionalities such as interacting with a set of boards through user events.

[/vc_column_text][vc_tour][vc_tab title=”Software Installation” tab_id=”1388004196-1-41″][vc_column_text]Before we can install S4A software, we first need to insatll Arduino IDE. The URL for Arduino IDE is http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software#toc2.

After we install Arduino IDE, we can download S4A from S4A website (http://s4a.cat/). For reference, here is the download URL is: http://s4a.cat/downloads/S4A15.exe

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”Flash Arduino with Special S4A Firmware” tab_id=”1388004196-2-39″][vc_column_text]S4A requires the Arduiono Uno that uses with it to have a special S4A firmware installed to communicate with it.  This special firmware takes the form of a Arduino sketch, and can be downloaded from:

http://s4a.cat/downloads/S4AFirmware15.ino.

We launch Arduino IDE, plug in Arduino Uno to the USB port of the PC, open S4AFimrware15.ino, and hit ‘Upload’ to burn the code into Arduino Uno.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”My First S4A Program” tab_id=”1388005954034-2-7″][vc_column_text]We pick the components from the left zone to the working zone in the middle as below:

You can also download the project file (here).

When we click the little green flag on the upper right corner , we can observe the program running on Arduino, and the LED starts to blink once every second.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tab][/vc_tour][/vc_column][/vc_row]