Thanks to the plunging cost of compute and growing availability of good microprocessor modules, there's an abundance of fun and life-enhancing connected device (IoT) project tutorials posted on individual blogs and community sites like Hackster.io and Instructables.com. We've curated a list of our recent favorites.
We love building fun projects here at Losant. Be sure to check out some of our favorites like our Amazon Echo Clone, LED Dice and LED Christmas Tree. We enjoy finding and sharing cool projects almost as much as we do building them.
You could spend the next month wading through posts looking for good ones to try, or you can just read on for our curated list of top picks from the past month or so. No matter if you prefer working with the Intel Edison (one of our favorite compute modules), Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects, we've got you covered.
We're huge Star Wars fans. Our Sphero BB-8 Driod is frequently on patrol running around our office. Here's a well documented tutorial for building an awesome LIFE-SIZED, Arduino powered, phone-controlled BB-8 droid. This gem is from prodigy Angelo Casimiro (genius behind the electricity generating footwear). Find the BB-8 project on Instructables.com here.
Here's a smart, cost effective and easily installable solution to make office resources like meeting rooms IoT enabled. See meeting room availability in real time with this Intel Edison powered project from xs2instructables on Instructables.com here.
Here's a fun Raspberry Pi project that uses image recognition to check if another car parks in *your* space (whether it's officially YOURS or not). This one's from Ron Dagdag and posted on Hackster.io here.
Here's a wearable system powered by Intel Edison and Ubidots that allows monitoring and notification of your baby's sleep, play, temperature. It visually represents the data and allows monitoring from anywhere in the world. Really impressive project from Intel Innovator Pooja Baraskar posted on Hackster.io here.
This fun project is takes a typical wooden chess board and adds intelligence to recognize the specific chess piece and location. MaxChess uses both Arduino and Raspberry Pi in the tutorial posted on Hackster.io here.
Self-built home security projects are some of the most popular DIY projects because they can be lower cost and lower profile than bulky professional installations. Here's a project that controls entry access using facial recognition, thanks to Microsoft's Project Oxford. This project from Mazudo, based on Raspberry Pi and Windows IoT, is posted on Hackster.io here.
Another project aiming to make the job of opening your door easier if not more fun is the "Open Sesame" project. It allows you to control your door using your phone. Simple as that. The Raspberry Pi project was created by Charif Mahmoudi and is posted on Hackster.io here.
I don't know if we'll get a chance to try all of these here at Losant but the BB-8 has certainly produced a lot of discussion. We'll keep you posted when and if we take that one on. Have you tried any of the projects in our list or anything similar? Love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.