Intel IoT Roadshow, the second "damn" Edison

In November 2014, Moscow hosted the first Intel hackathon from the IoT Roadshow series , whose goal is to promote the Edison platform to the masses. We prepared for it and performed very worthily, taking second place. For the project, we used the Galileo board and the Arduino programming environment with modules in Python. Our team consisted of four people. I learned

about the second hackathon in St. Petersburg by accident, literally in two weeks. There was no time to prepare, so the project came up with a simple one - AMP (Autonomous Mobile Platform - Autonomous Mobile Platform), somewhat aloof from Intel IoT, but in the subject of mobile robots, which I know very well.

image

Project goal: Development of software for managing a mobile robot, which is independent of the hardware chassis.

Plans: To bring a couple of their platforms from other projects to the event. On the hackathon, switch control to Edison and write control software.

Life: It so happened that he left Moscow only with a glue gun in his backpack, no one could leave the team either.

Hackathon Timing (time plus minus):

08:50 - I got in line. Everything is as usual: Intel pressurizes the atmosphere, stating that development kits are only the first to come.

09:20 - I received the package and was surprised by the contents: notebook, pen and PSU for Edison! And where is the board ?!

10:30 - Presentations began. Introduction to Edison, Intel IoT Cloud Analytics, IoT, and Microsoft Azure.
Here, the progress was fully manifested - the speaker led the presentation on Microsoft on Skype! Representatives of the iGo3D company began to work with 2 3D printers, offering participants the printing of any stl files.

image

13:00 - They announced lunch and started distributing boards and sensors. They were not given out at the entrance, probably because those who came for a freebie first also listened to the presentations, enriched themselves, so to speak, with knowledge. As soon as the boards were handed out, part of the tables became free and especially hungry ate on the second lunch box.

image

13:30 - A series of pitch sessions. The meaning of such a session is that in one minute you need to present the project and identify who you need as a team. I needed two people as a team: a specialist in node.js and someone who would prepare the presentation. And they were found, thanks to the guys Alexey and Oleg for their help! Basically, the participating teams were already staffed, and this is a good indicator that indicates that the people were preparing.

14:00 - Unpacked the boards and started to run Edison and install the XDK. And then the Internet died ...
No wonder - more than a hundred participants - this is more than a hundred sets of “laptop + phone / tablet + Edison”, and the grid in the class C space is only 254 addresses.

14:30 - Compiled a list of additional details, for which we again had to stand in line. We were pleased with the participants who were trying to find out from the girl who kept a record of the details given so that they could take this for their project. So, I got: a motor controller, motors, a voltage divider and PIR. It is clear that you cannot assemble from this mobile robot. Need a platform and power. And the Internet was all lying ...

15:00 - Switch to mobile Internet. Alex continued to download the IoT Kit, and I rushed to the shops and bought a 2S LiPo 1000ma, a return terminal, charging for LiPo, electrical tape, wire, an arduino power connector, wheels and wooden rulers.

17:00 - Returned to the hackathon. Alex, meanwhile, set up the XDK and figured out the voltage divider. I asked on Skype for a team designer for 2-part print projects, a hub adapter for motors on wheels and a third point thruster. He literally in 10 minutes did and sent, thanks, Pasha! I gave the stl-files to the guys from iGo3D for printing and started assembling the robot.

18:00 - The organizers have deployed several more WiFi points. People began to slowly disperse and the Internet came to life.

19:00 - Fed well again.

19:30 - Assembly completed, with the exception of the printed parts. He made a three-point chassis from rulers, thermo-glue and blue electrical tape. Boards and sensors fixed to glue, motors - to glue and electrical tape. We are trying to get an engine driver with Alexei - and he doesn’t.

20:00 - We recruited Intel consultants to help, they advised us to update the libraries, and the driver wound up. Alex went home to sleep.

21:00 - Printed the details. The assembly was completed, fixing these details on the glue.
There is a robot! Now it's up to the software. Since a few pieces are already ready, the voltage from the battery is removed and the motors are spinning, there is still a little left to execute the program at a minimum - writing to the cloud, controlling via the web and bringing it all together into one program.

He started with the cloud, found 6 examples and began to understand.



00:00 - Pizza and beer. Thanks, it was on time! The brain was already boiling. There were fewer and fewer people, but those who remained worked hard.

04:00 - All examples worked out without errors, but they did not write to the cloud. At around four in the morning, already in kamatose, he blinded his own version and the recording went.

04:35 - He stretched out his legs. I went to bed, on a ottoman, on stage. How so good! There were no problems with ottomans, those who wanted took two. The most stubborn continued to work.

08:30 - I got up. Washed up.

09:00 - I woke up. Had breakfast. And again for the code. Now for the control system.

11:00 - The people are gradually pulling up and the Internet begins to lag again.
Alexey says that he will not come and gives advice on Skype.

12:30 - Lunch. In addition to the participants, spectators and judges begin to catch up.

13:00 - Internet is dead. He died all over. Switching by points yielded nothing.
The version is ready, but there’s no way to check it without the Internet! It's hard, hard to develop Internet things without the Internet. I’m sitting on Skype on my mobile, cursing on the Internet, and they ask me how am I on Skype without the Internet?

14:00 - Oleg sends a presentation of 9 slides, I begin to remodel. It turns out 11, of which 6 are taken from the original.

15:00 - Start collecting presentations. I rent among the first. Already I want to speak faster.
Those who made the project turn off. Those who did not partially leave. The organizers are asking to turn off the Internet to everyone who does not use. And at this moment it is possible to reach the board and check the code. Everything works for us!

16:00 - Start of presentations. A lot, a lot of things - smart homes, augmented reality, universal things, neuro-interfaces. Horror, how interesting!

My presentation went well, the presentation showed everything, but it was not possible to demonstrate the work - the presentation camera did not want to be rebuilt into the light. So neither the laptop screen with graphs from the cloud, nor the control buttons that I clicked on were visible.

Upon returning home I shot a short “interview” with my son, who is my main robot tester.



20:00 - Awarding.
1st place - Thermal radiation detector - deservedly, brilliant solution, success to the guys!
2nd place - SensoDrive project - the guys arrived with good homework and showed themselves in high quality.
3rd place - the Maestro project - did not impress me. High-quality and beautiful homework from a video, website and presentation, and a miserable ridiculous prototype. According to the demonstration of the prototype, it remains unclear whether it earned in the end or not.

And after all this there was a prize draw for all sorts of activities - selfies, tweets, completed questionnaires and a description of the project. The prizes were mainly raffled off by a random generator, and I was lucky to become the proud owner of a BASIS watch.

Summary:In general, I was pleased with the hackathon. He himself showed me that I can assemble a mobile robot from scratch on an unfamiliar hardware and in an unfamiliar programming environment and make it work. It is a pity the time and nerves spent on the fight with the Internet, perhaps without this the result would have been more significant.

Some links


First Intel IoT Roadshow
Hackathon Intel First Hackathon Report Intel
Second IoT Roadshow
Hackathon Intel Second Hackathon Report

Also popular now: