Google Technology User Group event in Berlin

A month ago, we sponsored a bunch of products (ADK Dash Kit, Relay shield, Music shield, etc.) to Google Technology User Group (GTUG) in Berlin since the community there saw the requirement of open hardware comes up and wanted to have a try in their group event.

 

                                                                              Photoed by Stefan Zwierlein

 

That’s really cool, seeing more and more people to get involved in the open hardware. The event took place on Sunday 20 November, and here’s the feedback from the organizers.

During the Hackathon itself everyone was invited to give the ADK a try. The overall theme was Android@Home. There were around 100 participants in 15 groups. Some groups just explored the possibilites and took some hardware to their local GTUG groups to continue with their ideas. The following projects made it through to the end.

 

Home automation: An ADK board was connected to two relais and a RGB lamp for output. The board was controlled through a router that provides a javascript API. An Android app was created that was talking to the board through Wifi.

Measure power consumption: An ADK board with a wifi shield was used to measure the power consumption through a power meter. There was no phone involved in the project.

Breathanalyzer: An alcolhol sensor was attached to an ADK board. Depending on the level of alcohol the phone could automatically call a taxi. There was also an idea to create a party game out of it, but it wasn’t finished.

Serverduino: This is an existing project

(https://github.com/cbuchler/ServerDuino/blob/master/INSTALL.markdown)

to measure the conditions in a server room. During the hackathon the code was extended and a mobile interface created.

Alienrecognizer: Using a distance meter, the ADK is used to recognize aliens and talk to them through the phone.

Connect with FourSquare: A simple ADK project that allows to interact with all people that checked in a the current location by pressing a button, e.g. installed in a bar table.

FHem Server: This group explored the possibilities of the FHem project and managed to control lights in the c-base.

 

Overall, the results were impressive taking into account that many people were absolute newbiees to hardware and ADK and that the project had to be finished within 6 hours. Many participants announced to continue either at home or at their local GTUG groups.

 

Also, this event was part of the long developer weekend around the Google Developer Day (GDD) 2012 in Berlin. Very nice! We’re expecting more applications generated out from those series events.

About Author