Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 483))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Blockly is a popular and extensible visual programming editor adopted by various end-user development tools. Today, IoT is a key AmI technological backbone, rapidly growing and evolving in terms of infrastructures, solutions, toolsets and practices. Recently, the adoption of visual programming gained increasing attention as a way to enable composition of individualized automations by non-professional developers, with early research results looking very promising. In this context, we discuss an integrated IoT toolbox build on top of Blockly, by introducing a set of novel blocks suited to the IoT domain, accompanied by runtime tools, including a device simulator, action calendar, and a live dashboard, making testing automations far easier, faster and safer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltZKqMlnEIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ1j3uRPZ-w.

References

  1. Blockly: a client-side library for the programming language JavaScript for creating block-based visual programming languages (VPLs) and editors. https://developers.google.com/blockly. Accessed June 2021

  2. HomeKit: a software framework by Apple, made available in iOS/iPad OS that lets users configure, communicate with, and control smart-home appliances using Apple devices. https://www.apple.com/shop/accessories/all/homekit. Accessed June 2021

  3. Danado, J., Paterno, F.: A mobile end-user development environment for IoT applications exploiting the puzzle metaphor. ERCIM News 101, 26–27 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Wia: a cloud platform that makes creating IoT apps easier by linking IoT devices and external services. https://www.wia.io/. Accessed June 2021

  5. Johnston, W.M., Hanna, J.R.P., Millar, R.J.: Advances in dataflow programming languages. ACM Comput. Surv. 36(1), 1–34 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Valsamakis, Y., Savidis, A.: Smart automations for everybody: when IoT meets visual programming. In: IoT 2020 Companion, 10th International Conference on the Internet of Things Companion, Malmö Sweden, ACM, pp. 22:1–22:4, 6–9 October 2020

    Google Scholar 

  7. Embrio: visual, real-time, agent-based programming for Arduino. https://www.embrio.io/. Accessed June 2021

  8. XOD: an open-source visual programming language for microcontrollers. https://xod.io/. Accessed June 2021

  9. Zenodys: a fully visual IoT platform for Industry 4.0. https://www.zenodys.com/. Accessed June 2021

  10. Node-Red: low-level programming for even-driven applications. https://nodered.org/. Accessed June 2021

  11. IoTivity: an open-source software framework enabling seamless device-to-device connectivity to address the emerging needs of the Internet of Things. https://iotivity.org/. Accessed June 2021

  12. IoTivity Simulator: getting started with IoTivity–device simulation. https://iotivity.org/getting-started-iotivity-device-simulation. Accessed June 2021

  13. Myers, B.A., et al.: Making end user development more natural. In: Paternò, F., Wulf, V. (eds.) New Perspectives in End-User Development, pp. 1–22. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60291-2_1

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony Savidis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Savidis, A., Valsamakis, Y., Linaritis, D. (2022). Blockly Toolbox for Visual Programming of Smart IoT Automations. In: Novais, P., Carneiro, J., Chamoso, P. (eds) Ambient Intelligence – Software and Applications – 12th International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence. ISAmI 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 483. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06894-2_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics