There is nothing wrong with being a “just software” guy or gal in the IoT world. If you’re like me and hardware is not something you like to tinker with, but you want to get started and try to get a simple prototype out the door without learning all the ins and outs of an Arduino board, there is now an easy way to do it.
Last week, myDevices and Arduino announced a partnership with a primary goal – Simplify IoT Development. I had a chance to interview Kevin Bromber, the CEO of myDevices, and I definitely agree with his take on the current state of IoT development.
“The Internet of Things is somewhat complicated right now. Nobody knows where to start, nobody knows what to do, and there is a lot of frustration. IoT project development cycles are too long due to the complexity and time it takes to build a simple IoT prototype,” said Kevin.
Cayenne, the drag and drop IoT project builder from myDevices, simplifies the development process by providing tools to easily and quickly visualize sensor data and control actuators using a web dashboard or smartphone app. This no-hassle visualization is possible because Cayenne’s cloud service is securely connected to Arduino microcontrollers. The ability to build and manage IoT prototypes with Cayenne’s full-featured IoT Project Builder is as easy as drag, drop, and configure.
“Cayenne should be as easy to use as a website builder, but for IoT Projects. Everything you do on the mobile devices (Android and iOS) reflects on the web, and vice versa. Once you connect your Arduino, or any device to Cayenne, there are certain things you can do: remote device monitoring, data visualization of your sensors in real-time, view historical data by hour, weeks, months. But you also have the ability to remote control your device, turn a light on, move a motor, set threshold alerts. With the rules engine, if something happens on the Arduino device, trigger an event to take place on another Arduino device or a Raspberry PI.”
Since its launch in January, the Cayenne community has grown to 40,000 users.
“There is something happening in the IoT space, that hasn’t been really talked about. Hardware has been somewhat separate from software, and the 2 have never really had to come together. In 2016, they realize they need each other more than ever.”
Couple of videos provided by the company to get you underway:
- Set up an Arduino in under 90 seconds
- Customize widgets for any connected sensor or actuator
- Create triggers & alerts between Arduino’s and Raspberry Pi’s
- Sketch files provided to quickly get started with minimal effort
I concluded by asking Kevin whether the platform is targeted towards consumers or businesses. “From our perspective it’s the whole gamut”, said Kevin. “Arduino is a very powerful device, that comes in numerous configuration. At the lowest level you have makers, and at the advanced level – without naming any names – we have enterprise customers very frustrated with their inability to make something simple. We want to become the deFacto tool, we want to be the tool that all IoT developers prototype with but also take things to mass production”.
Register for an account, and you’re up and running in 3 easy steps – Good Luck!
