First I’d like to give a thank you to all the attendees of ioBridge’s DCWEEK Internet of Things Workshop.  It was a great turnout even though it was one of the last events of a long week.

We accomplished all of our goals:

1. Explain to people what the “Internet of Things” is
2. Have everyone realize where it is in their everyday lives
3. Understand just how BIG it is going to be
4. Get people to experiment first hand with IoT
5. Get involved with the Washington, DC tech scene and contribute to DCWEEK 2011
6. Get people giddy like school children when they are controlling their own “Things” on the Internet!

All the attendees were very involved in the presentation.  It was great to see the wheels start to turn as they learned about basic digital and analog inputs/outputs.  Once they understood those concepts they started to see how seemingly complex devices like a touch screen could be broken down in to it’s basic inputs and outputs.

The hands on part of the workshop was very rewarding and we thought everyone had a lot of fun.  We brought ioBridge Dev Kits that include IO-204 and multiple buzzers, temperature sensors, buttons, servo motors and LCD screens for the attendees to play with.  Four separate groups got to go through the module setup process and begin interacting with their items through the Internet.  Once they got that down, it started to get a little creative.

One group used a combination of the temperature sensor and the buzzer to have a buzzer go off when a certain temperature was reached.  They monitored all the inputs and outputs right from the Internet.  Another group took it a step further and had their IO-204 tweet once a certain temperature was reached.  Once they got that down, they used a simple button to trigger a tweet.  Sort of like a motion detector tweeting when someone came into a room.

Here are some of the photos of everyone in action:

Ryan released the beer cannon around New Years 2011, and since then, he has captured the imaginations of TV producers behind great shows on the Science Channel, Discovery, and The History Channel. The producers were creating a new series called, JUNKies for the Science Channel, where people turn junk into new things. They wanted to recreate Ryan’s mini-fridge beer cannon as part of one of the episodes. Hopefully, this episode will introduce the mainstream into Internet-control of things and inspire a whole new crop of innovations.

The “beer cannon” episode of JUNKies premieres on the Science Channel on September 8, 2011 at 10pm (EST). For more information about JUNKies, visit the Science Channel website.

Congrats, Ryan!

As my snowboarding trip approaches, I find myself checking Utah Snowbird’s snowcam a few times a day, wishing for more snow to accumulate on my favorite ski resort.

Snowbird Snow Meter

Noel shows you how to create your own snow meter using the ioBridge IO-204 and the Servo Smart Board. He connects the Snowbird’s weather data to ioBridge using the Widget API that controls a servo motor position that corresponds to the snow accumulation. Here’s a video of the Snow Meter in action:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Ld70ZKyyU

As a bonus project, Noel also shows you how to link the Snowbird weather feed to Twilio, so you can get personalized snow updates via the phone or SMS. Check out the complete “” on Instructables.com.

Let it snow!

Internet-enabled Halloween Treat Dispenser

Noel wrote a web application using Oracle Application Express that connects all the parts together. At the heart of the design is an Arduino-based microcontroller that drives the servo-based dispenser mechanism. The commands are relayed from the web app to the Arduino using the ioBridge IO-204 via XBee radios. The Internet connectivity part is what allows tweets (@tweetfortreats) or text messages processed by Twilio to control the candy dispenser. The web application makes use of the ioBridge Widget API to parse commands from the Internet.

ioBridge IO-204 Module with XBee Radio

Just think of where this type of technology can go? Vending machines?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjC1UhfDdEU

If you are interested in learning more, Noel has put together an Instructables so others can create their own DIY Halloween project this year. There’s also more information on Adafruit, MAKE, Hacked Gadgets, and Noel’s My Web of Things blog. Happy Halloween!

We had on display web-enabled robots, toys, and interactive projects created by the ioBridge community. Some of those projects included, an iPhone and Twitter controlled Donkey Kong, X10 controlled lamp, streaming temperature sensor, and a remote controlled dog treat dispenser.

While we were there, we captured some footage of our projects on display and exhibits that we were able to see. There were so many great projects and so little time. We made a quick YouTube video and posted pictures to the ioBridge Flickr group.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEgYWneVcKs

Thanks to all of the volunteers, exhibitors, and sponsors who made the Maker Faire NC such a success.

Looking forward to 2011!

Martijn Pannevis (@PanMan) created the MomoMeter which is a physical meter that takes the pulse of Twitter for certain trending topics and hashtags. The thing gives you visual feedback on your pervasiveness on the real-time web. Martijn’s project uses an ioBridge IO-204, servo controller, and servo. He built a web app that queries the Twitter API and sends relative servo positions to the ioBridge Web API which moves the meter needle accordingly. Martijn Pannevis explains how to build your own internet of things thing with his presentation. (Photos by Filip Bunkens)

“Andy Leer will share with us his experiences using the ioBridge to create fun interactive web enabled dioramas. Find out how with a few minutes and some simple hardware you too can put almost anything on the web.”

Check it out…

Make: PGH: Meeting 1
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 7pm – 9pm

Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Web Powered Robot

The robot uses a pair of serial bluetooth adapters to form a wireless link with the ioBridge IO-204. The serial levels of the IO-204 are TTL and a circuit using the MAX-232 was required to allow the serial interface work properly. On the robot is a set of serial servo drivers that control the steering and speed.

IO-204 and Serial Bluetooth Adpater

The interface is standard web page using an embedded ioBridge.com serial widget to make the connection to the IO-204 base station module. You can control the direction and throttle by clicking on the itnerface and using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. The interface generates serial strings that the serial servo drivers react to when received. You can see the strings and the serial widget in the debug part of the web interface.

Web-based Robot Controls

Here is a YouTube video of the web powered robot in action – looks like a lot of fun to drive. One step closer…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UmOqWQZbcY

Santa vs. Domo

We wanted to take a moment and thank all of our customers, users, developers, and everyone that makes up the ioBridge Community. Our wish to you and yours is that you have a safe and happy holiday season. Enjoy your downtime, friends, and family.  See you in the New Year!

Enjoy some projects…

• Xmas-Box.com — Interactive Christmas lights sync to music, songs are selected on web site, and if you are local you can listen to the music on your radio as you watch
• Pacific Lights – Control Christmas lights in New Zealand
• Serv O’Beer – Have your iPhone pour a beverage for your New Year’s party
• Santa vs. Domo – Play with some interactive toys on Andy Leer’s blog and let Santa have it
• iPhone Controlled Lights – Control your Christmas lights with a touch of your iPhone using the open ioBridge PHP Proxy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW1b7FM22yM

Cheers.

Hack Pittsburgh member Andy Leer created an interactive toy fight featuring Domo and Munny squaring off. You get to control one of the characters and watch the battle via a webcam live. Move over “Internet of Things”  - make way for the “Internet of Vengeful Toys”.

Munny vs. Domo

The Munny and Domokun are attached to servos. The servos are connected to the ioBridge servo controller and IO-204. You control the toys with  servo slider widgets. Andy’s blog mentions that the next version will have iPhone support.  Visit his blog to play and sweep the leg at the Domo Dojo.

We have a steam powered steampunk pumpkin that blows smoke out if it’s ears. We have a spider dropping on it’s victim and snapping a photo and posting to Twitter via TwitPic. We also have a motion sensing, talking skull that scares co-workers in the owner’s cubicle. Check them out!

• Halloween Dropping Spider by Noel Portugal on My Electronics Notepad
• Jaw Dropping Skull (aka the Half Hour Hallow Hack) by Steve from Polymythic
• Steam Pumpkin by our own Hans Scharler of his personal blog called, “I am Shadowlord“

Well done guys. Thanks for your creative ideas and sharing your projects with the ioBridge community. And, Happy Halloween!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpxKK6kfi4

PIR Sensors, Webcam, and ioBridge IO-204 Module

Noel was able to pull this off with using the ioBridge Actions. An action is logic created through the ioBridge interface that allows automated events to occur. For example, an action can cause a servo to move to preset position, send an email, update your Facebook status, etc. In Noel’s case, he use the output of the PIR sensor to cause the servo to move to a set position. The output of the PIR is digital – “high” means motion detected and “low” means no motion.

Using two PIRs covering two regions, he was able to detect motion in two regions. If motion is sensed in one area, the webcam points in that direction and if motion is detected in the other area, the servo moves the camera to cover the other region. Very clever.

Here is a video of the webcam tracking in action:

The PIR sensor has been the subject of a recent Adafruit tutorial – it’s available on the Adafruit store and even your local Radio Shack (of all places). For more information about this ioBridge project and other projects Noel dreams up, visit his blog.

Maker Faire Projects

Lots of people helped out to make it happen – thanks to OharaRP and thecapacity for working the LED sign. Maker Faire had some really interesting projects – underwater robots from Jesuit Robotics, a Giant LED display, Tesla Coils, Art Meets Science, cool stuff in the Maker Shed, and lots of people.

Here are some photos from Flickr of our booth before we got swarmed:

Check out Pete’s TankedCAM.com and Kevin’s BurpTheFrog.com for some really awesome interactive aquarium projects with full on Web 2.0 services.

Here is a cool video from TankedCAM demonstrating all of the interactive features.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5eYERAa1_A

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DtSdZZAp2w

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtUyzQBNT3k

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaePrjwCLg4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL8V2lk75G4

The interaction between the Arduino and the ioBridge IO-204 is done by using the PWM output of the ioBridge servo module to a PWM input on the Arduino. The interface is a web page of widgets that when clicked, sends a specific PWM output value. When you click a button, “800″, the ioBridge servo board sends “800″ to the Arduino and the Arduino executes a function in a look up table. The Arduino also triggers an output pin that is sent back to the ioBridge module to tell the ioBridge module it’s ready for another command. Very clever.

Check out the “Arduino/ioBridge Airsoft Target Range” blog post on Steve’s Polymythic Blog for a full write up on the project, Arduino source code, and a full-length instructional video — the whole shooting match. You can also find a few posts on his blog about weaving and bow making and the original Serv O’Beer project.

Tyler’s “Internet Dog Feeder” took a little over an hour to create. Tyler appears to be a young, up-and-coming inventor with a solid invention that his dog is sure to appreciate! Thanks for the unexpected delight on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kcyd3gOAyE

Enter, The ioGun – A Wiimote controlled magnetic coil gun that slings projectiles at college text books. It is a fascinating collection of technologies using the output of the Wiimote wrapped in JSON, feeding into a web app that ties into ioBridge’s JavaScript Widget Control API. He also used the coil from a golf ball putter returner, inks pens, a and black tape. His friends will never be the same when he invites them over for an evening of Wii Sports and you have to dodge, duck, dip, and dodge as you play tennis.

Here is the Wiimote controlled servo action on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBKoaXtHyfs

Check out the “Wiimote Controlled Coil Gun” on thecapacity.org or on Hack a Day. Jay also introduced to his self-aware beating heart project.

Part of the Apple Web Kit is the command “onorientationchange”. We will use that to detect the orientation change and call a script called “updateOrientation()”.

Add the following command to the BODY tag:

onorientationchange="updateOrientation();"

Place the following function in the HEAD of the document and call certain widgets at the specific orientation angles of 0°, -90°, and 90°. You can call any type of widget adjusting the position of a servo, controlling a digital output, or setting the state of an X10 widget.

function updateOrientation(){
switch(window.orientation){
case 0: widgetExecute("Upright Widget ID");
break;
case -90: widgetExecute("Right Widget ID");
break;
case 90: widgetExecute("Left Widget ID");
break;
}
}


Place the widgets referenced in the BODY of the document.

UPDATE:

The full iTurn web app is on the Wiki:

http://www.iobridge.net/wiki/projects/iturn

Stephen Myers iPhone Dog Feeder

 You can visit Stephen’s Myers “Cygnet Engineering” blog, at cygnetengineering.blogspot.com.