Emerson Hardware Visualizer for Arduino

Ryan Torvik - February 26, 2025 - 3 minute read

Introducing the Hardware Visualizer in Emerson

Our latest update to Emerson brings a new feature—the Hardware Visualizer! This new addition enhances our emulation environment, allowing you to see your hardware interactions in real-time. Let’s dive into how it works and what it means for your development workflow.

A Step Beyond the Blink Demo

Previously, we showcased our blink demo, which allowed us to blink a single LED while inspecting register values. Now, we’re taking it further by showing the LED toggle on a virtual Arduino board. Additionally, we’re exploring enhanced pin state visualization, providing deeper insights into hardware behavior.

With the Hardware Visualizer, you can now:

• Observe which pins are set to HIGH or LOW in real-time.

• Gain better insights into how your code interacts with the hardware.

• Quickly debug and visualize pin outputs without relying on a physical board.

How It Works

Setup and Initialization

• Compile and load your code into Emerson as shown in the previous blog post.

• Access the Hardware Visualizer by selecting the hardware view within the interface.

For Loop Example

The virtual Arduino board dynamically updates to reflect active pin states, visually indicating which LEDs are triggered by pin changes.

void setup() {
    for (int i = 0; i< 21; i++) {
        pinMode(i, OUTPUT);
    }
}

void loop() {
    for (int i = 0; i< 21; i++) {
        digitalWrite(i, HIGH);
        delay(1);
    }
    for (int i = 0; i< 21; i++) {
        digitalWrite(i, LOW);
        delay(1);
    }
}

Stay Tuned…

We’re launching a series on how to apply Test-Driven Development (TDD) principles with Emerson and the Arduino CLI, helping you build more reliable firmware faster.

Try It Out!

Want to experience the Hardware Visualizer firsthand? Download the latest version of Emerson today!

Have feedback or requests? Reach out to us through our website, slack, or github. If you have a specific piece of hardware you’d like us to model, let us know!

Download Emerson | Emerson-CE Github | Join the discussion on Slack

Happy emulating!