Creating a Mobile App with Flutter: Interfacing Microcontrollers with AnyOperate!

RE: Creating a Mobile App with Flutter: Interfacing Microcontrollers with AnyOperate!

shabaz — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:34:18 GMT

Made some improvements in v0.3.0 of AnyOperate.

Now it works properly with CH340 series USB UART ICs. Previously, there was a bug in a serial port library and would pick the incorrect baud rate (19200 instead of 115200). That is corrected now. Also, now *DTR is deasserted if using CH340 (this is useful if the *DTR line is used for other purposes). Finally, the config screen had a minor cosmetic bug fixed.

The screenshot below shows lots of config params for an MSPM0 target. I'm finding the app quite useful, I'm considering buying a small cheap Android phone to use exclusively for running it.

RE: Creating a Mobile App with Flutter: Interfacing Microcontrollers with AnyOperate!

shabaz — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:40:30 GMT

I've published AnyOperate release v0.2.0, which allows for WiFi setup from AnyOperate.

Also, there is a fuller Pi Pico W demo, which should be usable for custom projects. This also contains the ability to store parameters (or any variables) to Flash, using a 16-bit identifier. For example:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:df125581-ccbc-4e63-ab80-cc759d3f424c:type=c_cpp&text=%20%20%20%20PersistentStatus%20result%3B%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%0D%0A%20%20%20%20uint16_t%20dutyCycleStorageIdentifier%20%3D%200x1001%3B%0D%0A%20%20%20%20int16_t%20dutyCycle%20%3D%2050%3B%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%0D%0A%20%20%20%20PersistentStore%3A%3AwriteInt16%28%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20dutyCycleStorageIdentifier%2C%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20dutyCycle%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%29%3B%0D%0A%20%20%20%20]

And then it can be retrieved using that identifier.

I'm not going to make any more changes to these apps for a while, since I think they are at a reasonably usable state. Next step is to work on an actual end project, which can hopefully use the Pico W demo code, and the AnyOperate app.

The screenshot below shows the demo app CLI, which is accessible on a PC via USB Serial console or Telnet (using WiFi), but having to interact with the CLI is not necessary of course, since AnyOperate can be used via USB or BLE. The CLI does have some functionality not currently accessible via AnyOperate (such as reboot and factory settings).

RE: Creating a Mobile App with Flutter: Interfacing Microcontrollers with AnyOperate!

shabaz — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:25:56 GMT

I'm not too happy that I'm using insecure Telnet, but I'll run with it for now, and maybe remove that transport later. Anyway, as mentioned it is very convenient for debugging right now.

I was more interested in how to set up the WiFi configuration. Now it's easy, from AnyOperate (I still need to tidy this up before I commit these new changes to GitHub - I also need to think about an AP mode, in case there is no WiFi access point for the Pico to connect to).

For now, when using USB or BLE, a WiFi Settings box appears; this was added to the DeviceMenuScreen which was a class discussed in the blog, which previously only gave Config and Status options.

If WiFi settings is clicked, a new WifiSettingsConfigScreen is inserted in the stack of screens:

RE: Creating a Mobile App with Flutter: Interfacing Microcontrollers with AnyOperate!

shabaz — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:29:42 GMT

A benefit of using the simple ASCII based protocol; it is very easy to debug.

I've been busy adding WiFi capability (still a work-in progress). Since I don't have the Flutter app ready for that yet, I can just use Telnet from a PC to the Pico W, and type the protocol request commands manually. The USB transport can be tested in a similar way of course. All three transports (USB, BLE, WiFi) carry the same ASCII based protocol. Once I'm reasonably confident that the microcontroller end is functioning, I can switch to coding and testing with the Flutter app.