{"id":6,"date":"2015-06-20T23:11:29","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T23:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spants.com\/blog\/?p=6"},"modified":"2015-07-04T22:31:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-04T22:31:55","slug":"iotbox-an-internet-of-things-thingy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.spants.com\/blog\/iotbox-an-internet-of-things-thingy\/","title":{"rendered":"IoTBox – an Internet of Things, thingy."},"content":{"rendered":"

The final version of the IoTBox<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2015-06-28<\/a>
The final version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The IoTBox is a small 5x5cm device with an OLED screen that displays MQTT messages, an RGB LED to show MQTT messages as a status colour, a button that triggers an MQTT message and a waterproof temperature sensor that sends MQTT messages and\/or a REST call. It can be updated “OTA” and is powered by the USB connector.<\/em><\/p>\n

These articles will show you how to build one.<\/p>\n

Background to IoTBox<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in December 2014, I started to look at a new Wifi chip that had just been released as a means of Internet\u00a0enabling various Arduino projects that I had been thinking about. I soon realised that this processor (the ESP8266) was actual more powerful than the Arduino and much much cheaper.<\/p>\n

One of my first projects was to build a small screen (OLED 0.96″) to display information via NodeRed<\/a> from my Tado<\/a> heating system and the various Ciseco sensors around the house. My home system is based around a Message Bus called MQTT and\u00a0I managed to find and modify some code by\u00a0Nathan Chantrell<\/a>\u00a0that enabled me to build a cheap system to display various dynamic topics of interest – such as hot water temperature, room and outside temperatures.<\/p>\n

\"2015-01-04<\/a>
MQTT display “thingy”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around this time, the company that I work for (IBM) was undergoing a change. Much more focus on ioT…. and the question arises: how can we show IoT working with our products?. I work with IBM Maximo, the leading\u00a0Enterprise Asset Management (maintenance) application.<\/p>\n

I had an idea, how about a wifi enabled sensor that has a display to show MQTT topics, an RGB LED to show status changes, a temperature sensor and a button to initiate tasks. All of these features should be MQTT enabled and not locked to IBM Maximo – I would like it to be relevant across the entire IoT product set.<\/p>\n

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