Grove - Node

Grove - Node is a simple and flexible electronic module to connect physical objects. It's based on the idea of IFTTT (IF-This-Then-That). It has two Grove connectors to access a variety of Grove modules. With pre-programming IFTTT firmware, it's easy to create physical objects with analog sensors and 0/1 actuators. It integrates Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) which makes it extremely easy to interact with phones and tablets. To extend its usability, a DFU bootloader is built in to reprogram it Over-The-Air through BLE. It supports ARM mbed platform to write new firmware with hundreds of libraries.

Features

IFTTT pattern to use
Two Grove connectors for sensors and actuators
- Plug-Play with analog sensors and high/low actuators
- Flexible 4 GPIOs, all can be used for PWM, ADC, I2C and UART
Nordic nRF51822 Multi-protocol Bluetooth® 4.0 low energy/2.4GHz RF SoC
- ARM Cortex-M0 processor
- 256kB flash, 16kB RAM
On board battery charge circuit
OTA firmware
mbed enabled
- Online IDE
- Easy to use C/C++ SDK
- Handy libraries

Specifications

Operating voltage: 3.3Vdc
Battery capacity: 80mAH
Maximum charge current: 100mA
Grove Interface supply Voltage：3.3V
Grove Interface supply Current: 100mA max
Grove Interface input Voltage：0~3.3V

Pinout

Get Started

Turn On Grove Node

Connect Grove Node with a battery or a USB cable and then press its button, it will run.

Double Clicks - run its bootloader, the red LED will be on.
Otherwise - run its application, the green LED will blink.

Turn Off Grove Node

In bootloader mode - wait for a while to run into the application.
In application mode - long press the button wait until all LEDs are off

Get Started with Pre-programmed Firmware

First, we need an Input Grove module to sense the physical world. Pre-programmed firmware only supports an analog input sensor or 0/1 digital input sensor. The following Grove modules from Seeedstudio can be used as an Input:

Module name	Parameter to measure
Grove - 80cm Infrared Proximity Sensor	Distance
Grove - Button	On/Off
Grove - Electricity Sensor	Electricity
Grove - Gas Sensor(MQ2&MQ5)	Gas Quality
Grove - Light Sensor	Light
Grove - Magnetic Switch	Magnetic
Grove - Moisture Sensor	Moisture
Grove - PIR Motion Sensor	PIR Motion
Grove - Rotary Angle Sensor	Rotary Angle
Grove - Tilt Switch	Object Position
Grove - Sound Sensor	Sound
Grove - Temperature Sensor	Temperature
Grove - Touch Sensor	Human touch
Grove - Water Sensor	Water

Other analog sensors which is not Grove-compatible need a little small adjustment. Just connect your signal output to pin4 of Grove connector and then the VCC and GND. Note that only sensors that output an analog or digital 1/0 value can be used with the pre-programmed firmware

Second, we need an output Grove module as an actuator. The following Grove modules can be used:

Module name	Action when triggered
Grove - Buzzer	Buzzer enabled
Grove - LED	LED On
Grove - Vibrator	Vibrate
Grove - Relay	Swith On/Off other circuits

For example, we intend to create a light which automatically turns on if the environment is dark and turns off if otherwise, then we select a Grove_-_Light_Sensor and a Grove_-_LED.

Third, teach the Grove Node a logic.

Connect the light sensor as an input and the LED as an output, and then turn on the Grove Node.

In a normal environment, do a single-click on the Grove Node's button
Cover the light sensor with a hand to simulate a dark environment, and then do a double-clicks, the Grove - LED will be on.
Release the light sensor, the Grove - LED will be off.

Over-The-Air

The Grove Node has a pre-programmed OTA bootloader. To run into the bootloader:

power off the Grove Node
do a double-clicks on the Grove Node's button
the red LED will be on and a BLE device named SD7DFU can be scaned
use nRF Master Control Panel to upgrade the BLE app

More information can be found at mbed.org.

Develop New Application

See ble on mbed.org