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Take Your Beans to the Cloud! LightBlue Bean Supports Node-RED, Brings Easy Creation of Internet-Connected DIY Projects without Coding Experience
[March 02, 2015]

Take Your Beans to the Cloud! LightBlue Bean Supports Node-RED, Brings Easy Creation of Internet-Connected DIY Projects without Coding Experience


Punch Through Design, a hardware and software development firm that brings Bluetooth Low Energy hacking to the masses, has released support for Node-RED to connect the LightBlue Bean to the Internet.

Node-RED is an easy-to-use visual programming software that runs on Mac and Linux computers, including the Raspberry Pi. With Node-RED's help, Bean capabilities expand to fully support IoT development, allowing Beans to interact with other Beans or hardware and interface with Twitter (News - Alert), Facebook and email as well as make and receive HTTP requests. Now your projects can run on the Bean using just a coin cell battery, but still reach the Internet.

This new compatibility allows Beans to be used for a wide variety of Internet-accessible applications, including:

  • Home automation, monitoring and sensing
  • Student robotics, classroom activities and projects
  • Internet-enabled art installations
  • Unique advertising approaches and on-site marketing display creation

"Adding Node-RED support to the LightBlue Bean opens up Internet-connected device development to new audiences that want to build projects they can control with their smartphone, tablet or computer, but are unfamiliar with traditional coding," said Colin Karpfinger, founder and CEO, Punch Through Design. "Beyond DIYers, hobbyists and students, this new compatibility provides designers, developers and prototypers with an inexpensive way to build sophisticated IoT devices quickly, and we're excited to see what will be created by the community over the coming months."

The LightBlue Bean is an Arduino-compatible board with Bluetooth Low Energy that was crowd-funded and shipped Spring of 2014. Since then, tens of thousands of the coin cell battery-powered boards have been sold to a growing community seeking to create prototypes of connected devices.



The Bean showcases the LightBlue Ecosystem: software and hardware that make developing a Bluetooth-enabled product faster than ever before. The hardware (LightBlue Module) removes the risk of RF design and certification, while the software (LightBlue SDKs) standardizes BLE development on iOS, Android (News - Alert), Mac OS X and Windows.

The LightBlue Bean is available from online retailers and directly from Punch Through Design. More information using Node-RED with the LightBlue Bean is available at www.punchthrough.com/bean/node-red and www.punchthrough.com/bean/node-red-getting-started.


About Punch Through Design

Punch Through Design helps companies build great products by providing hardware, software and expertise. Specializing in Bluetooth-connectivity, Punch Through Design offers market-leading test apps, hardware modules and development services.

With offices in San Francisco and Minneapolis filled to the brim with electronics, 2.4GHz traffic and surf gear, the company creates ways for a wide range of users to easily connect devices to the digital world. Punch Through Design also provides consulting services to design and guide products from initial idea to production.

For more information visit Punch Through Design's website, Facebook page or Twitter.


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