BrickPi and EV3 progress update

There has been some nice progress on the pure c# library for the EV3 Lego Mindstorm Brick from Lego and the BrickPi3 from Dexter Industries.  The BrickPi is great as it adds loads of extra processing power and more importantly memory for the EV3 kit using a Raspberry Pi.

 

The library is for both Xamarin.IoT and Android Things.    As soon as it’s ready I’ll post the source to GitHub.   If there is interest, I can also spend some time and port the Android Things implementation to Java or Kotlin for Android Studio.

 

The ultimate plan is to use this in a Lego based robot as a play project, but the experimentation will form basis of an actual larger artificial intelligence project.      It will also be hooked up to Azure IoT for the telemetry.

 

BrickPi Sample

 

BrickPi with 2 sensors

Happy IoT’ing

Azure and the Internet of Things at GXUGSA

Always fun to fly to Johannesburg and speak at GXUGSA.    I hope it was useful.

I’ve made all content available.

 

Event:  https://www.meetup.com/Gauteng-Xamarin-User-Group/events/241783761/

 

Presentation:   https://github.com/apead/XUGSA/tree/master/12092017

 

Android Things Weatherstation (Android Studio):   https://github.com/androidthings/weatherstation

 

Android Things Weatherstation (Xamarin):   https://github.com/apead/Xamarin-AndroidThings-Contrib

 

MX Chip kit Twitter Shake-Shake:  https://microsoft.github.io/azure-iot-developer-kit/docs/projects/shake-shake/

 

MX Chip orders available from DFRobot:  https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1616.html

 

This session featured

 

Azure Functions

Azure Iot Hub

Azure Stream Analytics

Azure Machine Learning

Power BI

Android Things

MX Chip Azure Iot Kit

And other Iot platforms and devices (Arduino, Netduino, Raspberry Pi, Windows 10 Iot, Xamarin Iot)

 

MXChip Iot Kit

 

IoT at GXUGSA

Happy Cross Platform IoT’ing

 

Azure Cape Town – Azure and the Internet of Things

Last night was a fun evening of Azure Iot at the Azure Cape Town user group.   Thanks to all for coming, I hope it was useful.   The turnout was awesome!

 

I’ve made all content available.

 

Presentation:   https://github.com/apead/XUGSA/tree/master/12092017

 

Android Things Weatherstation (Android Studio):   https://github.com/androidthings/weatherstation

 

Android Things Weatherstation (Xamarin):   https://github.com/apead/Xamarin-AndroidThings-Contrib

 

MX Chip kit Twitter Shake-Shake:  https://microsoft.github.io/azure-iot-developer-kit/docs/projects/shake-shake/

 

This session featured

 

Azure Functions

Azure Iot Hub

Azure Stream Analytics

Azure Machine Learning

Android Things

MX Chip Azure Iot Kit

And other Iot platforms and devices (Arduino, Netduino, Raspberry Pi, Windows 10 Iot, Xamarin Iot)

 

 

More Devices!

 

Weatherstation

 

Happy Iot’ing!

Lego Mindstorm EV3 with Xamarin Iot

There’s a lot of fun to be had here!   Xamarin Iot deploying to a Lego Mindstorm EV3 from Visual Studio, isn’t that awesome?

 

Visual Studio 2017 Preview 5 – Xamarin Iot EV3

 

LCD Update via Xamarin Iot

 

I’m now off to make it do something more useful.  I will write a full blog post about it afterwards, including instructions how to set this up yourself.

Have a great day!

Visual Studio: The one IDE to rule them all

This week there was some great news about .NET MF and the return of the Netduino!(http://blog.wildernesslabs.co/netduino-is-back/)

 

I was inspired enough to dust off one of my older projects which included .NET MF and the Xamarin Monkey Robotics project. I then decided to consolidate and rearrange it with some of the newer stuff I’m playing with in the “Iot” space.    It’s also an example of how Visual Studio can handle projects of all types, held together and fully “debuggable” within one solution.     This seems like a good time to do this especially with the recent talks at the Xamarin User Groups in Cape Town (http://explorationspace.co.za/2017/07/20/cross-platform-iot-at-ctxug/)  and Johannesburg (http://explorationspace.co.za/2017/07/12/cross-platform-iot-at-gxugsa/) on the topic.

 

 

Visual Studio Controller of Things Solution

 

I do still have to port all this to Visual Studio 15.3 preview 3 so I can have Xamarin Iot working in the solution as well.

 

Still a lot of on the list to do today, so I’ll end off here.

 

Happy Iot’ing!

Cross Platform Iot at CTXUG

Last night was the Cross Platform Iot Session at CTXUG in Cape Town.    The turnout was absolutely amazing!    Thank you to all for coming it was a really fun evening!

 

Roger Weiss from Aliens kicked off with an overview of Windows 10 Iot Core and a few demos.  These demos featured some awesome use of Microsoft Cognitive services and also some nifty voice controlled home automation.

 

It was then my turn.   Unfortunately Chris van Wyk couldn’t make it this evening.  🙁

 

The session featured

 

Visual Micro for Visual Studio

Visual Studio Code with Arduino Extension which is now Open Source.

Xamarin Forms and Xamarin.Android with Android Things 0.41 Preview

The new Xamarin Iot preview for Linux based devices

Azure Iot Hubs

 

Devices wise 

 

Raspberry Pi 3

Intel Edison

Raspberry Pi Zero W

Latte Panda and Arduino Leonardo

MXChip Azure Kit

Devices everywhere! Latte Panda, Pi With Android Things. NexDock

 

The awesome new MXCHIP Azure Iot kit (Arduino)

 

The presentation can be found here:  https://github.com/apead/XUGSA/tree/master/19072017

Android Things Weather Station Sample with Azure Iot Hubs:    https://github.com/apead/Xamarin-AndroidThings-Contrib

Cross Platform Generic Xamarin Forms sample that ran on Phone, Android Things and Windows 10 Iot (I didn’t demo this, but it works too):   https://github.com/apead/XUGSABuildAutomation

 

Xamarin Android Things Nuget:  https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.Android.Things/0.4.0-devpreview

 

Xamarin Android Things Contrib Drivers:  https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.AndroidThings.Contrib.RainbowHat/0.40.0-beta

 

Getting Started with Xamarin Iot:   http://explorationspace.co.za/2017/06/21/xamarin-iot-comes-to-visual-studio-2017-on-windows/

 

MXChip Azure Kit:   https://microsoft.github.io/azure-iot-developer-kit/

 

Android Things Starter Kit with Rainbow Hat:   https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/rainbow-hat-for-android-things

 

Rainbow HAT

 

There’s a Xamagon!

 

Interesting VR Stuff happening in Aliens office

Cross Platform Iot at GXUGSA

Last night was the Cross Iot Session at GXUGSA in Johannesburg.    It’s always fun presenting all the Iot toys, but also what can actually be done with Xamarin and the rest of the Microsoft tooling.

 

It’s also not always clear that you can basically do anything you want with Xamarin, so always nice and exciting to showcase it outside the usual phone type scenarios.

 

 

Gert Talking Windows 10 Iot Core

 

 

The session featured

 

Visual Micro for Visual Studio

Visual Studio Code with Arduino Extension which is now Open Source.

Xamarin Forms and Xamarin.Android with Android Things 0.4 Preview

The new Xamarin Iot preview for Linux based devices

Windows 10 Iot Core

Azure Iot Hubs

 

Devices wise 

 

Raspberry Pi 2 + 3

Intel Edison

Raspberry Pi Zero W

Latte Panda and Arduino Leonardo

MXChip Azure Kit

Devices Devices Everywhere

The presentation can be found here:   https://github.com/apead/XUGSA/tree/master/11072017

 

Android Things Weather Station Sample with Azure Iot Hubs:    https://github.com/apead/Xamarin-AndroidThings-Contrib

Cross Platform Generic Xamarin Forms sample that ran on Phone, Android Things and Windows 10 Iot:   https://github.com/apead/XUGSABuildAutomation

 

Xamarin Android Things Nuget:  https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.Android.Things/0.4.0-devpreview

 

Xamarin Android Things Contrib Drivers:  https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.AndroidThings.Contrib.RainbowHat/0.40.0-beta

 

Getting Started with Xamarin Iot:   http://explorationspace.co.za/2017/06/21/xamarin-iot-comes-to-visual-studio-2017-on-windows/

 

MXChip Azure Kit:   https://microsoft.github.io/azure-iot-developer-kit/

 

Android Things Starter Kit with Rainbow Hat:   https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/rainbow-hat-for-android-things

 

Rainbow HAT

 

Behind the Scenes Fun 🙂

Android Things Contrib Drivers for Xamarin Sample Added

Last week I pushed the Xamarin version of the Google Contrib drivers to Nuget.    I’ve now added a sample project, to illustrate how it all works.    The sample also includes the use of Azure Iot Hubs.

 

The sample and the Xamarin components for Android Things Contrib can be found here:  https://github.com/apead/Xamarin-AndroidThings-Contrib

 

The Google Contrib drivers provides for the following components:

 

  • Sparkfun ADC Block for Intel Edison – adcv2x
  • Apa102 RGB LED strip
  • Bmx280 temperature and pressure sensor
  • Push button over GPIO
  • Cap12xx capacitive touch buttons
  • GPS
  • Ht16k33 7-digit alphanumeric segment
  • Mma7660fc accelerometer sensor
  • PWM speaker/buzzer
  • Metadriver for the Rainbow HAT
  • Metadriver for the Sense HAT
  • Ssd1306 OLED display
  • Tm1637 4-digit numeric segment display

 

You can find more details on each can be found within the Android Things Github repo:  https://github.com/androidthings/contrib-drivers

 

A great test of the contrib drivers is Pimoroni’s Rainbow Hat.   https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/rainbow-hat-for-android-things   The Rainbow HAT brings together a lot of the components mentioned above on one board.   It’s provided with the Android Things Starter Kit so it’s a very good place to start.       The first sample I’ve added here focus’s on this specific HAT.

 

I’ve added a Nuget package which contains the entire contrib library.    The nuget is built on version 0.4 preview of Android Things  It can be found on nuget.org:   https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.AndroidThings.Contrib.RainbowHat/0.40.0-beta   Something to note, it’s still a pre-release nuget package.

 

The sample added is based on the google Weather Station sample.  It has one difference, it uses Azure Iot Hubs for cloud messaging.

 

Sample Functionality

  • Temperature Monitoring
  • Pressure Monitoring
  • Push Button (A) to swap display from Temperature and Pressure on the board display
  • Native UI for RaspberryPi to display weather based on air pressure
  • Telemetry sent from Android Things Device to  Azure via Azure Iot Hubs
  • Message support from Azure to Android Things Device.

 

To uses the Iot hub in the sample, the DeviceId, DeviceKey and HostName of an Azure Iot hub will need to be provided.    I will do a post specific on Iot Hubs to provide more detail on this in subsequent blog posts.    These variables are set in the MainActivity.

 

 private bool _useHubs = true;   //  Set this to true to use Azure Iot Hubs

 _weatherDevice.DeviceId = "<Add Azure Iot Hub Device Id Here>";
 _weatherDevice.DeviceKey = "<Add Azure Iot Hub Device Key Here>";
 _weatherDevice.HostName = "<Add Azure Iot Hub Hostname Here>";

 

Weather Station

 

The sample  uses Xamarin’s own 0.4 Preview nuget for Android Things:   https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.Android.Things/0.4.0-devpreview

 

I’m in the process of creating more samples of the rest of the contrib library.    I’m also packaging more third-party drivers from around the community into reusable Nuget packages for Android Things with Xamarin.

 

I’m also having a lot of fun at the moment with a version of these drivers, built from scratch to work with Xamarin Iot.  We can then have these components (and Rainbow HAT) working on Linux devices which will of course be awesome!

 

Happy Iot’ing with Xamarin!

 

Xamarin Iot comes to Visual Studio 2017 on Windows

I recently had a quick look at Xamarin Iot.  The post can be found here: http://explorationspace.co.za/2017/06/07/first-look-at-xamarin-iot/.

 

That was using Xamarin Iot on Visual Studio for the Mac (Preview).     Xamarin Iot is also however available for Visual Studio 2017 on Windows (Preview 2.1) too.  Below is the identical solution just running from Visual Studio 2017 on Windows.    Have a look!

 

Visual Studio Iot Project Template

 

 

New Xamarin Iot Agent

 

 

 

Visual Studio in Action

 

Xamarin Iot on Raspberry Pi Zero

 

This is just a quick look at Xamarin Iot running on a Raspberry Pi Zero, this time on Visual Studio on Windows.   More in-depth content coming soon!

 

Happy Iot’ing!

First Look at Xamarin IOT

This is a first look at the new Xamarin Iot functionality found within Visual Studio for Mac 7.1 Preview.   I will dig much further into detail in future posts, but lets have a very quick look and it.    I’m really excited about this addition to the already awesome Xamarin tooling!

 

New Iot Project Type

 

A new project type has been added for Iot.    This project type or template will create the solution and project needed to run on the Iot device.

 

Manage devices option

 

What’s immediately apparent is the new run option for the Iot project type.   There’s now a new item called “Manage Devices”

 

Iot device manager

 

The Iot Device Manager allows all the connected devices to be managed.   This setup is very similar to the Mac Agent used for iOS development with the Xamarin Visual Studio for Windows extension, however it will display all the Linux based devices running on the network.  In this case and screenshot it’s a Raspberry Pi Zero running Raspian (Jesse).   Configuring the device will allow remote deploys to the device from your Mac.    This will require a user name and password of a user on the Raspberry Pi.  This user will be used to connect to the Raspberry pi via SSH.    Also note, SSH needs to be enabled on the Raspberry Pi for this to work.

 

Executing remotely on device

 

Now you can start developing your Iot solution.   What’s really awesome is, all the things you expect to work will just work. This includes break points and a full debugging experience.     All this can happen wirelessly to a “headless” device.

 

The build and execution process is very similar to the Mac Agent when you do iOS development from Windows (Visual Studio) to a Mac.  The difference in this case, it is from a Mac (Visual Studio) to a Linux instance (Raspberry Pi).   On the very first execution, the mono run time will be copied over to the device.  This will be used to execute the built app.    The application itself and it’s “built code” is also synchronized with the Raspberry Pi.    This compiled Iot app is then in turn executed on the device remotely.

 

Lets see it in action!    Here is a simple example of the now standard Iot demo of a flashing LED, but running on a tiny Raspberry Pi Zero W.    What’s really nice about this implementation is, it runs on devices that is not supported by other Iot platforms, like Android Things and Windows 10 Iot Core.   It will run on the myriad of Linux based devices out there.

 

 

There is much more to show and tell.  So there’s much more blogs to come on this topic!   This will also include how Android Things and Xamarin Iot can work together to make cross platform Iot simpler.

 

But for now:  Happy Xamarin Iot’ing! 🙂