I’m currently attending a course on making IOT-devices using Arduino Uno, a simple microcontroller board. The objective is very simple: create a functional embedded system that uses the internet in some manner, a.k.a make an IOT-device (IOT=Internet Of Things). As a complete beginner to programming, electronics and, well, the internet, this course has proven quite challenging to me. However, I’m lucky to have a helpful and patient teacher (Tero Karvinen) and many fellow students that are willing to assist.
On the course we work in pairs. As a project me and my teammate (Tomi Laakkonen) chose to create a RGB LED lamp that changes color with the temperature in Helsinki. We named it “weatherlamp” (yes, quite original). In short, we programmed the Arduino board to fetch the current outdoor temperature from Openweathermap and depending on the degree, the RGB LED changes its color. The project really is quite simple but I at least have learned an immense amount about programming and the basics of IOT.
I’m still in the middle of the project but I will be posting the finished results here. In the meanwhile you can check out the course coordinated by Tero Karvinen here, I heartily recommend it:
http://terokarvinen.com/2016/internet-of-things-tyopaja-ict8tn017-1-intensiiviviikon-w12
-Oliver Lahti
Oliver Lahti 