DIY Electronics Hardware Projects with Android [Arduino alternative]
Tarandeep Singh
All the DIYElectronics enthusiasts cherish, coz you can now do all the hardware hacking using hack-friendly attachment that turns an Android smartphone into the hub of any electronics project.
IOIO (pronounced yoyo) is capable of doing almost everything that a Arduino could, including a retro-style alarm clock that can ring when you get messages.
And there’s a Wall Printer which uses seven Sharpie-style market pens hooked up to servos for an old-school printer effect controlled by an Android phone.
These are just some early samples, the potential is huge.
Why Android instead of regular Arduino?
Android phones are powerful mobile computers (now extending upto dual cores) having internet connectivity and a rich variety of built-in sensors (camera, GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, IMU, touch screen). They are also very easy to write applications for, thanks to the great work done by the Android SDK developers as compared to Arduino. For many applications, all they are really missing is connectivity to external peripherals.
This is exactly where IOIO fits in: it enriches the inherent capabilities of the Android device with the ability to communicate with external circuits.
From a study of existing solutions, they all suffered from one or more of the below:
High cost.
Complicated. Especially so for complete beginners.
High latency.
Low bandwidth.
Required replacement of the Android device OS.
Large physical size.
IOIO does not suffer from any of the above. Its cost (~$50 from SparkFun) is competitive with existing solutions, dead-simple to use, ~3ms one-way latency, ~300KB/sec throughput, works with stock OS, small in size.
Definitely worth considering if you’re into Android and electronics; you can pre-order the IOIO for Android here, for $49.95.
