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Welcome to Flowlence Learn

You're about to build a smart city in miniature. Over four hands-on projects you'll create:

  • 🌿 A self-watering plant system that knows when the soil is thirsty
  • 🚦 A smart parking spot with automated gate access
  • 🚨 A safety system that detects gas leaks and fire
  • 🌡️ A climate-control system that turns a fan on automatically

Every one of these is a real piece of technology that runs in real cities, scaled down to fit on your desk. You'll do it all with Flowlence Code — colourful blocks you drag and snap together, no typing required.

Flowlence Code in action

Why you're here

This tutorial is the technology companion for the Brilliant Global Competition — a worldwide challenge for students in grades 10–12 to design and build a smart-city model. Your STEM teacher will guide you through the urban-design and presentation pillars; these pages cover the tech half: the hardware in your kit, the block-based programming, and the projects themselves.

How the tutorial is organised

  • Part 1 · Getting Started

    What is IoT? What's in your kit? Install the software, learn how blocks work, and write your first program.

    Start here

  • Part 2 · Smart Agriculture

    Self-watering plant. Soil moisture, water level, pump.

    Build it

  • Part 3 · Smart Parking

    Spot detection + automated RFID gate.

    Build it

  • Part 4 · Smart Safety

    Fire and gas-leak detection with audible alarm.

    Build it

  • Part 5 · Smart Temperature

    Automatic fan control + live temperature display.

    Build it

The four smart-city pillars

Each project maps to one of the four pillars that define real smart cities:

Pillar What it covers Your project
🌿 Sustainability — Smart Irrigation & Water Management Water supply, irrigation, efficiency Smart Agriculture
🚦 Mobility — Smart Mobility & Traffic Systems Roads, parking, transit, gates Smart Parking
🚨 Protection — Public Safety & Emergency Systems Fire, gas, alarms, emergency response Smart Safety
🌡️ Comfort — Smart Environment & Climate Monitoring Air quality, temperature, climate-aware buildings Smart Temperature

What you'll need

  • Flowlence Code — free download, installed on your computer (Install guide)
  • Flowlence IoT Kit — ESP32 Plus board + the workshop sensors and modules (Meet your kit)
  • A computer — Windows 10 or later with a free USB port
  • About 10 hours — realistic time for a student working through Part 1 → Part 5

How each Part is structured

Every project Part follows the same three-step pattern:

  1. Component lessons — meet each sensor or actuator one at a time, learn how it works and how to read or control it
  2. Build the system — combine the components into a complete smart-city subsystem
  3. Try the extensions — open-ended challenges to make the project your own (judges love these)

A word before you start

Take it step by step

If a block program isn't working, don't panic and don't add more blocks. Slow down, open the Serial Monitor, add a serial print to see what's actually happening. Debugging is 80% of the job — for real engineers too.

Ready?

Start Part 1