I just wanted to share with you what I am playing with in my lab at nights.
I purchased a Texas Instrument CC3000 lab board some time ago and been having a blast with it. Everything seem to work good so far although the libraries still need a good whooping.
I just launched a fb page which I intend to keep up to date as work progresses from here, but here's a short break down on what I've done so far.
I built my first prototype some months ago (Pictures are available on fb) and started to bring the unit alive. There were already Arduino libraries available but they fell pretty short when I started to use them. So I decided to port the middleware provided by Texas Instrument my self and so far it all seem to be working........ eehh to some extent XD
I then decided to build a real PCB for the CC3000 in the form of a Shield. I received two factory built prototypes (Cost me a fortune), picked them up at the post office on my way to some friends. When we were going home later that evening we found the car with its windows broken and emptied of all items..... including my brand new boards =( .
That sort of put me off for a few weeks but I got back in the saddle and decided to build a new set of boards. This time I made them as I really wanted them, a real time clock, a battery, 128KByte of battery backed up serial SRAM and a SD card connector. So new prototypes have been ordered and I am just now receiving word from the factory that they are assembling the boards so soooon.... =)
At the moment I'm still working on getting all functionality in the library working as well as putting together some simple demonstration applications such as a web server, twitter client and a few other useful applications that can serve to show others on how to build applications around the board.
The intention is to see if it's possible to launch this as an Indiegogo campaign, but we'll see about that.
Anyway I'm always interested in feedback and suggestions so feel free to post your heart out.
So, someone else who thinks the Arduino world needs cheaper WiFi connectivity options. Join the club!
Here's my take on cheap WiFi for connectivity for Arduino and compatibles. embeddedcoolness.com. My price point goal was to get a WiFi enabled Arduino compatible dev board all up for under $20 (including the radio!).
I've got it down to that, but it comes as a kit and you have solder the board up yourself.
To do manufacturing runs that involve assembly, I'd probably have to run a KS campaign or similar. I've been toying with the idea of offering pre-assembled boards.
I notice you're thinking of Indiegogo. Any reason? I wasn't aware they were very "big" on the maker electronics side of things. (Maybe things have changed?) Altough KS also isn't without its issues these days, of course.
Another crowd-sourcing channel you might want to consider further down the line is Tindie https://www.tindie.com/.
Good luck! The Arduino world needs cheap WiFi, and lots of it.
You system certainly looks cool, and would be a lot less expensive per node. I'll keep updated on your progress.
Yeah, not sure right now on how to proceed on the crowdfunding bits. I'm running a campaign on Indiegogo right now on a sensor kit but the interest seem low. Of course that could just be that people just doesn't want to by sensors like that.
I did not know about Tindie but that looks really promising. Might try that to.
I just received some pictures of the board from the assembly line in the factory and they look very cool.
The units are arriving here by the end of next week and I cant wait to try them out. The library is working pretty good right now with super easy configuration and consistent connections so I have started to tidy the code up.
Next I will be starting to think about regression and stability testing and I welcome any suggestions that any one may have.
I hope my head doesn't get chopped of for this but I have just launched my project on Indiegogo. So if you're in the market for a Shield with WiFi combined with an RTC and battery backed up SRAM just head over to Arduino compatible WiFi Shield with multiple functions | Indiegogo and check it out.
