First Technology Transfer

Standard and Advanced Technical Training, Consultancy and Mentoring

Multitasking with Arduino and FreeRTOS

Duration: 5 Days

Multitasking is, literally, the ability to “do several things at the same time”. In the case of “interactive arts” projects this is particularly relevant as a rich interactive installation may be simulataneously collecting information about its surroungings, interactions with viewers whilst controlling various display and mechatronic devices. These interactions can be extended to the use of multiple networked devices linked together as a kind of “internet of things”. This workshop focuses on multi-tasking using a single or at most a few Arduino devices. Extending this to a large number of devices is far more ambitious and would require “another thread of courses”, which are, at present “germinating in my mind”.

Writing multi-tasking applications can, often, be simplified by making use of a small embedded operating system. FreeRTOS is just such a system, that is both very widely used, and, also will run on many Arduino boards and systems.

In this workshop the aim is to explore the basic “possibilities” offered by the use of multi-tasking in the “interactive arts. This is not an easy workshop, but, it will try to avoid complex theoretical and mathematical issues and, rather, look towards gaining insights as to what can be done, what is achievable and what the paths to “further development” are.