S4A
Free Version
Publisher Description
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. There is also a sensors report board similar to the PicoBoard one.
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.
Interface
Arduino objects offer blocks for the basic microcontroller functionalities, analog and digital writes and reads, and also for higher level ones. You can find blocks to manage standard and continuous rotation servomotors:
In S4A, an Arduino board is represented by a special kind of sprite. The Arduino sprite will automatically find the usb port where the board is connected.
It is possible to connect to multiple boards at the same time by just adding a new Arduino sprite.
Supported boards
S4A works with Arduino Diecimila, Duemilanove and Uno. Other boards haven't been tested, but they may also work.
Connectivity
Components have to be connected in a particular way. S4A allows for 6 analog inputs (analog pins), 2 digital inputs (digital pins 2 and 3), 3 analog outputs (digital pins 5, 6 and 9), 3 digital outputs (pins 10, 11 and 13) and 4 special outputs to connect Parallax continuous rotation servomotors (digital pins 4, 7, 8 and 12).
You can manage a board wirelessly by attaching an RF module to it, such as Xbee.
S4A allows you to control as many boards as USB ports you have.
Compatibility
S4A is backwards compatible with Scratch, so you can open Scratch projects in it. However, you won't be able to share your projects on the Scratch community website because doing so goes against the Scratch terms of use.
Take in account that this compatibility doesn't work both ways, so you won't be able to open an S4A project from within the original Scratch.
Using a PicoBoard along with an Arduino board is also supported.
Protocol
S4A interacts with Arduino by sending the actuator states and receiving sensor states every 75 ms, therefore the pulse width needs to be greater than this time period. The data exchange follows the PicoBoard protocol and needs a specific program (firmware) to be installed in the board. Please refer to the Downloads section for further instructions on how to do so.
S4A is free software distributed under an MIT license.
About S4A
S4A is a free software published in the Other list of programs, part of System Utilities.
This program is available in English. It was last updated on 22 April, 2024. S4A is compatible with the following operating systems: Linux, Mac, Windows.
The company that develops S4A is scratchcitilab. The latest version released by its developer is 1.0. This version was rated by 84 users of our site and has an average rating of 1.7.
The download we have available for S4A has a file size of 28.42 MB. Just click the green Download button above to start the downloading process. The program is listed on our website since 2011-06-23 and was downloaded 25,210 times. We have already checked if the download link is safe, however for your own protection we recommend that you scan the downloaded software with your antivirus. Your antivirus may detect the S4A as malware if the download link is broken.
How to install S4A on your Windows device:
- Click on the Download button on our website. This will start the download from the website of the developer.
- Once the S4A is downloaded click on it to start the setup process (assuming you are on a desktop computer).
- When the installation is finished you should be able to see and run the program.
