Firefly

Information

Firefly offers a set of comprehensive software tools dedicated to bridging the gap between Grasshopper, (a free plug-in for Rhino) the Arduino microcontroller and other input/output devices. It allows near real-time data flow between the digital and physical worlds – enabling the possibility to explore virtual and physical prototypes with unprecedented fluidity.

Website: http://www.fireflyexperiments.com/
Location: Cambridge, MA
Members: 626
Latest Activity: Mar 23

Firefly Experiments

As a generative modeling tool, Grasshopper offers a fluid visual interface for creating sophisticated parametric models, but by default, it lacks the ability to communicate with hardware devices such as programmable microcontrollers or haptic interfaces. Firefly fills this void. It is an extension to the Grasshopper’s parametric interface; combining a specialized set of components with a novel communication protocol (called the Firefly Firmata or Firmware) which together enable real-time communication between hardware devices and the parametric plug-in for Rhino.

Key Features

Read / Write to Arduino microcontrollers and other devices
Visualize Sensor Data within Firefly / Grasshopper
Control LEDS, Lights, Motors, Valves and more
Control Stepper Motors (for 3d Printers and end effectors)
Stream Web Cams and connect with Mobile Devices (iOS + Android) using OSC and UDP
Connect to Internet Feeds and search XML Feeds
Generate code to upload to an Arduino Board
Basic sound input and processing tools
Datalogging, counting and playback
Machine Vision toolkit including edge detection, color filtering, convolution filtering and much more
Kinect toolkit including skeleton tracking

A notable distinction for Firefly is that it is the first visual microcontroller programming environment designed specifically for a 3-D parametric CAD package (such as Rhino). This feature means that real-world data, acquired from various types of sensors or other input devices (video cameras, internet feeds, or mobile phone devices, etc.) can be used to explicitly define parametric relationships within a Grasshopper model. Firefly completes the communication feedback loop by allowing users the ability to send information from Grasshopper back to the microcontroller in order to incite specific actuations (ie. lights, motors, valves, etc). Ultimately, this workflow creates a new way to create interactive prototypes.

Discussion Forum

How to Sync with ABB robot controller? 3 Replies

Hey There. A quick question: is there any way to synch Arduino/Firefly with HAL?I have a tool attached to my robot arm and I kinda manually control it through Arduino. I need to use Firefly to parametrically and maybe in almost real time (if…Continue

Tags: IRC5, Arduino, ABB, Firefly, Robot

Started by Mehdi FarahBakhsh. Last reply by GabrielaSullivan Mar 21.

Writing to SPI/I2C devices through FT232H 1 Reply

Hi all.I'm recently working on a kinetic project involving a number of hobby servo motors controlled by a I2C PWM controller PCA9685. (or some of you refer to the famous Adafruit 16 channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver - I2C interface )I realize it would…Continue

Started by Victor Leung. Last reply by DanaHill Aug 1, 2022.

Serial read problem in Firefly 7 Replies

Hi guys,I'm communicating with a 3D printer via Grasshopper / Firefly (and eventually) Silkworm.So far, I can quite happily send G-Code move commands to the printer - which is a Leapfrog Creatr, based on Arduino Mega / RAMPS electronics - via the…Continue

Tags: GCode, Read, Serial, Firefly

Started by fergal.coulter. Last reply by Aaron Porterfield May 16, 2022.

problem while reading/writing 2 Replies

I hawe a problem with writing/reading data in Firefly.I thought it is mine problem with board, but cant understand this stuff Continue

Started by Philipp. Last reply by Jame jim Apr 5, 2022.

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Comment by Mohammad Azinkia on March 20, 2012 at 4:23am: Do u know how can we run over 4 servo motor by an Arduino!?Is it possible?

Comment by Philipp on March 18, 2012 at 4:53pm: Hoorrah! Now waiting for kinect gestures components)

Comment by Andy Payne on March 16, 2012 at 5:05am: Ryles,

So your using Rhino 4.0 (with the latest release of Firefly 1.0066 which was released just 2 days ago)? And you've made sure to copy all of the files in the installation folder (including the C_sawapan_media.dll into the Roaming Folder for Grasshopper (making sure to remove any prior versions of Firefly which may have already been installed)? And you've unblocked each of the files? If you've followed each of these steps, then I'll need to speak directly with Panagiotis, as his library should work on most machines. It's using DirectShow to automatically connect to your video capture device (BTW, have you tried disabling your default video capture device, if you have one... sometimes with the PS3 camera it will still try to default to an older one if it's installed and thinks that is the default camera... You can disable it in the Device Manager). Let me know if you followed all of these steps and are still running into issues, and I'll try to talk to Panagiotis about whether there is something in his library that would be causing the issue.

-Andy

Comment by kleerkoat on March 16, 2012 at 4:59am: Thanks Andy, I forgot about the discussion area right above here. Still having problems with the C_sawapan_media.dll not being found. Any ideas? Thanks.

Comment by Andy Payne on March 16, 2012 at 4:49am: Regarding Ryan's questions:

Hey Andy, I'm curious what drivers you are using for the PS Eye?
Thank you,
ryan

You can download the PS3 Eye camera drivers from (http://codelaboratories.com/downloads/) At the bottom of the page, you'll see a link for the CL Eye Platform Driver (for single cameras). This should be what your looking for.

HTH,
Andy

Comment by Scott Davidson on March 15, 2012 at 5:14pm: Mehmet -

You may want to look at this blog post on Lego Mindstorms: http://www.robotshop.com/gorobotics/articles/lego-mindstorm-nxt-ard...

Comment by Andy Payne on March 15, 2012 at 4:58pm: Hi Mehmet,

Unfortunately, I have no experience with Lego Mindstorms so I don't know if it's possible to control it or not. I can say that I haven't built any tools specifically for this functionality... but that's not to say it couldn't work with some modifications. Firefly essentially works through serial communication so if Lego Mindstorm can receive information using the serial protocol then it's possible it could work. You will probably want to use the Generic Serial Write component for this (as the Uno Write is specific to the Arduino and the Firefly Firmata).

-Andy

Comment by Mehmet Ali on March 15, 2012 at 3:05pm: I am looking for a way to connect Grasshopper to Lego Mindstorms NXT robotic kit. Does firefly have a functionality on this fact?