ArTICL: Calculator Linking for Arduinos and MSP432 Launchpads
Category: EE & Hardware (back to list)
Project Page: ArTICL: Calculator Linking for Arduinos and MSP432 Launchpads project page
Summary: Graphing calculators' ubiquity make them an ideal tool for exploring programming and electronics in the classroom. ArTICL allows TI graphing calculators to connect to Arduino and MSP432 microcontroller development boards. Students, teachers, and other users can write simple TI-BASIC programs on their calculators to control LEDs, buttons, motors, sensors, and more.
Complete:
99%
Begin: August 4, 2010
Projected Completion: September 7, 2015
In early 2010, we published a set of rudimentary routines to link graphing calculators to Arduino boards. In the following four years, a number of developers provided feedback on the routines, including features that they'd like to see and improvements that could be made. Those improvements have made their way into a new library called ArTICL (Arduino-TI Calculator Linking). Like any good Arduino library, it contains a set of classes you can use in your own Arduino programs, plus a handful examples made by yours truly and other Cemetech members. The library is under active development, and will eventually also include one or more lesson plans that teachers could use to teach rudimentary electronics and programming with TI-83 Plus or TI-84 Plus calculators and Arduinos.

The ArTICL library (pronounced "article") lets Arduino and MSP432 programs send and receive TI link protocol-formatted packets at a low level. In addition, it includes a CBL2 class that lets the calculator emulate either a CBL2 device or a calculator speaking the CBL2 protocol (thanks to Cemetech member CVSoft for helping to make this possible). This means that you can use the Send() and Get() commands on your graphing calculator to control the Arduino, including turning LEDs and motors on and off, reading the state of buttons and switches, and performing measurements with sensors. You could even use the ArTICL library to control a Norland Research robot with an Arduino. The video below demonstrates toggling LEDs on and off with the Send() command on a calculator. Feel free to contribute to ArTICL by sending a pull request on GitHub.

News and Milestones
Arduino to TI Calculator Linking Routines (August 2010)
ArTICL: Arduino TI Calculator Linking Library (October 2014)
ArTICL: MSP432 Launchpad to TI Graphing Calculator Linking (August 2015)

Downloads
ArTICL on GitHub

ArTICL ControlLED demo on an Arduino

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