Open Hardware

Always wanted to create hardware devices that can interact with the real world? Heard about the Arduino electronics prototyping platform but not sure how to get started? When you attend this workshop you will: set up an Arduino board & software; learn how the Arduino fits into the field of physical computing; and make your Arduino respond to button presses and blink lights. Hardware is fun! Read more.

This session aims to give you the tools to import the real world into the programming scope of your trusty $30 microcontroller, by covering the technology fundamentals and integration essentials of a wide variety of sensors and actuators, as well as providing a few alternative power schemes and even mobility options to increase the variety of choices in your design arsenal. Read more.

The makers of two collaborating Open Source projects--the .NET Micro Framework and the Netduino electronics platform--talk about how you can easily create connected devices using a RESTful interface and standard Web technologies. Come see how you can try out your own connected device solutions for under a hundred dollars using the same tools and skills that are used on the desktop. Read more.

Prototyping a Mobile Linux device around off the shelf hardware has been easier then ever.Low power mobile processor boards such as the Beagle board can provide the core of a Mobile Linux Devicel A basic UI can be rapidly implemented by Android, QT, etc. This session will look at the process of getting a basic Android mobile device prototype built. Read more.

The Android Open Accessory Protocol makes it possible for you to create custom Arduino-based accessories for your Android phone or tablet. Attend this session to learn how to get started, the hardware & software required and how Handbag makes development easier. Content will be useful whether you have previous Android or Arduino experience or neither. Read more.

See how the Yocto Project is able to deliver quality builds for embedded Linux with buildbot, automated sanity testing, license collection and auditing, and build statistics and history tracking. Read more.

ROS, or Robot Operating System, was designed as the ideal open source (BSD) platform for personal robotics because a common software platform is the best way for roboticists, from university researchers to hobbyists, to share their best work and to grow the industry faster. In this session, Brian Gerkey of Willow Garage will provide an introduction to this rapidly-growing OS. Read more.

You can now easily place a trivially sized computing device anywhere a power plug is present. This fast paced session will provide a complete, hands-on review of the currently available Plug format devices, their capabilities, advantages and pitfalls. We will demonstrate development and debugging on the most recent Sheevaplug-class device as a hands-on introduction to embedded Linux environments. Read more.

The first generation of telephones were off-grid, using local batteries and crank generators. The MAG*NET project at Saint Joseph's College developed a method of allowing historic telephones to be used, without modification, to operate on the modern telephone network. Asterisk, openWRT and heyu are Open Source tools under the hood. Read more.

OpenBTS and Asterisk allow enthusiasts to deploy homebrew yet Commercial Grade GSM cellular networks with affordable Open Hardware such as the Range Networks SDR. We’ll cover the hardware and software required to make your own cellular network and demonstrate the Range Networks SDR and OpenBTS at work. Read more.

The latest generation of smart phones, such as Apple's iPhone, have a growing range of in-built sensors, large screens, and a (near-)ubiquitous data connection. They would make an excellent hub for a distributed sensor networks, however interfacing to them can be challenging. This session will present several methods for connecting iOS devices to external hardware using serial connections. Read more.

Pandaboard is the Goliath of Open Hardware Embedded Platforms. A Dual-core Arm Cortex A9 processor aND 1GB of DDR2 RAM make it ideal for a myraid of use scenarios. Pandaboard touts an HDMI interface, Hardware accelerated 1080p HD video playback, 802.11n Wifi, Bluetooth, and USB OTG all on an Omap 4 platform. Have fun exploring this amazing Open Hardware platform up close and personal. Read more.