Powered Up App Update
The Powered Up app has been updated to include exciting new functionality!
At first glance it may not look like much has changed. The biggest change appears to be the fact that the trains are no longer inside a City folder, making it easier to access all the individual profiles. But check out the small arrow on the right edge of the interface. Clicking on that arrow reveals a new page:
Not excited yet? Well you should be! The big plus sign in the lower right corner is where it all starts. Clicking on that opens up a dialog that allows you to create a program. First off you will need to provide a name and select a complexity. If you have used Boost you will know what this means. If not, the levels indicate how many blocks will be available. For an absolute novice level 1 is a good start. Your average simple program will be a lot nicer if you use level 2 and level 3 gives you access to everything that is available.
Don't worry too much about what level you choose, because you can always change it back and forth. Just exit the program, and click on the gear icon. That will bring you back to the program configuration screen allowing you to adjust the block level and even change the name of your program.
What do you get when you open the program. Let me show you what a level 2 program can look like:
As you can see, the interface is virtually identical to the one in Boost. The difference is that it loads with incredible speed. Apparently the Boost lobby requires quite some pre-loading, but the programming area is a very quick load. Programming blocks are organised in tabs and a quick look inside each one will tell you where to look for what. Yellow hold command structures: start, wait, loop, etc.
It gets exciting when you go to the orange section which holds sensor inputs:
In addition to the Boost colour/distance sensor and the tilt sensor inside the Boost hub itself... wait, what? Yes!! The Powered Up app now works with both the Powered Up Hub used in Trains and the Batman Mobile and the Boost Hub!!
So, in addition to the Boost sensors, the app now also accepts WeDo 2.0 sensors: tilt and distance. The WeDo 2.0 hub is not supported because it does not accept firmware updates. The very first thing the app will ask you to do when you connect to a hub for the first time is update the firmware to allow for all the new functionality.
Time to make a simple program:
Run a motor (Train, Powered Up or internal Boost motor) connected to port A at 50% speed. As you can see you can also link motors on ports A&B or D&C.
Let's take it a step further:
Change led light on the hub. Then set motor speed as a function of the reflected light read by the Boost colour/distance sensor. You can run this program on the Powered Up hub with a Powered Up motor or a train motor. You can also run it on a Boost hub and then one of the built-in motors will run. Sensors are detected automatically so you don't have to declare what port they are connected to.
It's time to start programming with Powered Up!
If your Powered Up app doesn’t show these functionalities yet, please wait a few hours until all the app store servers have updated
7303
