Not everyone can make the trek out to the Bay Area every year to see all of the amazing sights at Maker Faire. If you felt left out after seeing all of the pictures and articles, don’t fret! We have a virtual tour of the TI booth so you can check out the demos we featured this year.
Once your popcorn machine is connected to the Internet, anything is possible. We married the idea of creating delicious snacks with innovative TI technology to create an Internet of Things demonstration that really pops. Using the MSP430F5529 MCU LaunchPad as the main computing element, we transformed an off-the-shelf popcorn machine into the future of home appliances. Paired with hardware like TI’s SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi® CC3100 BoosterPack and the Grove BoosterPack from Seeedstudio, the LaunchPad is able to control the main elements of the machine; the AC kettle motor for stirring and the AC heating element for cooking. Once connected over Wi-Fi, the LaunchPad can take in sensor data and inputs to determine when to broadcast information like tweeting when the popcorn is ready. This is all made possible using Temboo, an API aggregator that makes working with web services a breeze. The LaunchPad can also help the machine pull down data like weather information to display on the LED panels mounted on the machine or change the interior lighting effects of the Adafruit NeoPixel LEDs on the inside of the glass to react to cooking conditions or outside data. You can view documentation on the project at www.energia.nu/iop. Follow the machine on Twitter @IoPopcorn so you never miss when a fresh batch of popcorn is ready.
Have you ever wanted to know how to combine the best features of Bluetooth® Smart and Wi-Fi? Now you can experiment using RedBearLab’s Wi-Fi Mini and Bluetooth Smart Mini kits featuring TI wireless modules. These small form-factor modules makes it easy to rapidly prototype your designs and the breakout headers provided on the Wi-Fi Mini make it a snap to build a Wi-Fi to Bluetooth low energy gateway. Check out the kits at www.redbearlab.com.
Lee Goldberg was kind enough to loan us his Smart Hat to hang out in the TI booth throughout the show. Want to see all the things the Smart Hat saw at the show? Read this EDN blog. What will you design with LaunchPad this year?
Learn more about TI’s Maker community
- Read our Maker Faire recap blogs from day one and day two
- Join our Maker-exclusive mailing list
- Get started with development on a TI LaunchPad
