Time to get started with this Redbear and have it do something!

Because I discovered the Redbear Blend is a retired product in my last post, I'm attempting to get it working the generic route, as an Arduino Leonardo and nRF8001 module, without using any Redbear specific resources/boards definitions/libraries/... because I'm assuming those won't be maintained or supported anymore.

Redbear Specific

Should you have a Redbear Blend and wish to use their resources anyway, have a look at these procedures:

• install Redbear Blend boards support
• install nRF8001 libraries

They explain how to add the Redbear Blend to the Arduino IDE using their board definitions, with the necessary BLE libraries.

There is even a Redbear BLE app for iOS: BLE Controller.

I won't be using those though, and will proceed with a more generic approach ...

Arduino IDE

Plugin

Wanting to download the latest version of the Arduino IDE, I was surprised to find they now also have an online IDE. All you need is a browser plugin to be installed. Intrigued, I gave it a try.

Here's an overview of the steps I had to go through.

{gallery} Arduino IDE

The plugin was easily installed and the IDE up and running.

Board

From the device dropdown menu, I added a new board. There is a list of supported boards, from which I picked the Arduino Leonardo.

I connected the board to my computer, and verified it was detected. Success!

Hello World

With the board connected and detected, let's jump straight to business and perform a Bluetooth "Hello World".

Sketch

The simplest way I could think of, is to have some kind of serial interface over Bluetooth, to pass commands from my phone to the Arduino.

The BLE SDK for Arduino library contains such an example: ble_uart_project_template

I checked the pinout for the BLE module in the sketch and compared it with my Redbear Blend.

• RESET -> D4
• RDYN -> D8
• REQN -> D9

Compiled and flashed the sketch on the Arduino.

I opened the serial monitor to verify the sketch was properly running. "Advertising started"!

But, how do I talk to the Arduino from my phone now?

Bluefruit LE Connect

Searching with keywords like "nRF8001", "BLE", "UART" and "iOS", I quickly came across an app by Adafruit: Bluefruit LE Connect.

Their app is compatible with a variety of Adafruit BLE (breakout) boards, and since the Redbear uses the same nRF8001, I thought it'd be worth a try.

I installed the app on my phone, and launched it. A BLE device with UART capabilities was quickly discovered ...

Using the UART menu, I sent a message to the device, and it appeared in the serial monitor of the Arduino IDE! Hello World!

With this working, I can start implementing functions to be triggered by keywords received on the BLE UART interface for example.

Felo'fact

As usual, let's end this post with another fact about Felo'melorn:

Felo'melorn has multiple appearances, such as the "Phoenix's Rebirth" or the "Timebender's Blade".

source: wowhead