5 ms·

Meet the IOIO - USB breakout board for android w/48 digital+analog IO pins

143 points by JonnieCache 16y ago

JonnieCache 16y ago
This basically turns your android phone into an overpowered arduino which runs java. Genius. I can see some brilliant hacks coming from this. Pre-order here: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10585 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10585 ($49.99)
- cbetz 16y ago
  within N years you'll be able to pick an android phone out of the trash. I suspect N < 5. That makes projects like this really awesome.
  - moe 16y ago
    If by "pick out of the trash" you mean "really cheap" then I think that has already happened. You can pick up a G1 for $20 on eBay.
- kqr2 16y ago
  If you can't wait, you can buy a USB host shield for your arduino and then use the microbridge library. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9947 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9947 http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/ http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/ MicroBridge is an Android Debug Bridge (ADB) implementation for microcontrollers. MicroBridge allows stock, unrooted Android devices to talk directly to USB host enabled MCUs, thereby enabling phones to actuate servos, drive DC motors, talk to I2C and SPI devices, read ADCs, and so forth.
ck2 16y ago
That visual charger is slick. A little OT, but does anyone understand why there aren't usb-to-ethernet adapters for android devices? I have an environment where I cannot use wifi but want network connectivity.
- zer0her0 16y ago
  One of those G's isn't enough? 3G? 4G?
  - unwind 16y ago
    Bandwidth over 3G or 4G is rarely free; bandwidth over wired Ethernet very typically is.
  - ck2 16y ago
    no cell or wifi communication possible, but ethernet available I've seen a usb tunnel for iphone but never anything for android.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  The android ADB debugging protocol includes the ability to forward UNIX sockets over the usb link, so your phone has this facility built in. http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html#forwardports http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html... Unless I have misunderstood the adb docs, it shouldnt be too hard to set up, even though it only seems to allow ports to be forwarded from the host to the phone, rather than the other way around. Nimble use of netcat/iptables should remedy this. EDIT: people seem to be calling it "reverse tethering" and while it involves the adb, it doesnt use the port forwarding. See: http://blog.mycila.com/2010/06/reverse-usb-tethering-with-android-22.html http://blog.mycila.com/2010/06/reverse-usb-tethering-with-an...
- TillE 16y ago
  Pick any USB Ethernet adapter supported by Linux, and it should be fairly easy to get it working on your rooted phone. Here's some code showing how to mess with networking on Android: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/ http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/
  - JonnieCache 16y ago
    Unfortunately not. Android devices are not yet capable of acting reliably as USB hosts. This means you cannot connect peripheral devices to them. The IOIO works by acting as a USB host itself.
dkersten 16y ago
This is really cool! I've spent the past few weeks working on this[1] with my brother (he built the case and wired/soldered everything; I handled the firmware) and I can think of some awesome applications for this Android board. I'm really excited about the idea of building an Android powered MIDI controller now :) [1] http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28014 http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28014
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  Beautiful work! I love the arcade cabinet style buttons. What kind of things are you looking to trigger with it? I imagine mashing up breakbeats with those buttons would be really compulsive :)
  - dkersten 16y ago
    Thanks! My brother plans on using it for DJing with Traktor. The ideas is that you never ever need to touch a laptop while DJing. I would love to extend it to use an android phone as a display (so that the laptop can be hidden away under the table or whatever). At the moment, we have 4 banks which change the MIDI channel of everything else, and 4 banks for the 16 midifighter buttons. These four banks basically map to each one of four Traktor decks. The 4 "global" banks are then used to choose between browsing through songs, loops, various deck control commands and effects. I imagine mashing up breakbeats with those buttons would be really compulsive :) Its addictive to mash the buttons and see what happens :D Even an unmodded midifighter provides hours of fun, even if (like me and unlike my brother) you're not terribly musical. Anyway, we had a little setback - think we may have fried the atmel mcu.. :'( but once its all finished and cleaned up, I intend on releasing the code and writing a blog post about it, which I'll probably submit to HN.
    - JonnieCache 16y ago
      For the screen, build a model with a grey market PSOne display and a touchscreen layer fitted. That'd be amazing. You should submit to http://hackaday.com http://hackaday.com as well. They'd most likely feature it. Also, have you heard of http://hexler.net/touchosc http://hexler.net/touchosc ? It's brilliant fun on the ipad, I've never tried it on android, but there is a port.
sfgfdhgfdshdhhd 16y ago
Genious! Does anyone know if there are similar equipment for PCs? I want to hook up a laptop to some electronics equipment for data logging. Arduino boards are pretty slick but they need some wrapping to work smoothly, i want to have more recommendations. For clarification, i want the I/O API to be targeted for a program running on the PC. I don't want to write a wrapper in the microcontroller myself and then transfer it over serial port to PC. I want the microcontroller block to be transparent. PC<--->Microcontroller<--->I/O
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  All development boards will have a USB interface which generally comes up as a serial port. You can then just fire bytes back and forth in whatever way you please. For a comparison of different boards, see: http://hackaday.com/2011/02/01/what-development-board-to-use/ http://hackaday.com/2011/02/01/what-development-board-to-use...
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  You can always chop the end off an old parallel cable and manipulate the state of each pin using whatever language you want on the PC. It's known as 'bit-banging' I believe. It's a simple way to do GPIO.
  - sfgfdhgfdshdhhd 16y ago
    Most new laptops doesn't have parallel or serial port :(
- gallamine 16y ago
  1)LEGO mindstorms 2) NI DAQs (expensive) 3) BasicStamp (parallax.com) 4) BeagleBoard (then you wont need the PC) 5) Xport (lantronix - has digital IO)
  - nitrogen 16y ago
    The USB Bit Whacker is also easy to use and available from SparkFun.
moe 16y ago
Any plans to bring the retroid into mass production? I'd buy one!
Enlightenment 16y ago
I can't believe they chose a PIC24F over an ARM microcontroller.
jberryman 16y ago
Just getting into electronics AND just put my old (non smart) phone through the washer. I guess I'm going to have to get an android!
spazz 16y ago
Ordered! This looks like fun. :)
lutorm 16y ago
That seems cool? But can I get one with a bluetooth interface instead of usb?
- mdda 16y ago
  Something like this : http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluetooth-modules/bluetooth-io-module-obi411/ http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluet... ? Of course, it would be easier to buy if it were on SparkFun...
Enlightenment 16y ago
I can't believe they picked a PIC24F microcontroller. MIght have been better to pick an AVR for Arduino compatibility or even an ARM might have been a better choice.

143 points by JonnieCache 16y ago

This basically turns your android phone into an overpowered arduino which runs java. Genius. I can see some brilliant hacks coming from this. Pre-order here: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10585 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10585 ($49.99)

cbetz 16y ago
within N years you'll be able to pick an android phone out of the trash. I suspect N < 5. That makes projects like this really awesome.
- moe 16y ago
  If by "pick out of the trash" you mean "really cheap" then I think that has already happened. You can pick up a G1 for $20 on eBay.
kqr2 16y ago
If you can't wait, you can buy a USB host shield for your arduino and then use the microbridge library. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9947 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9947 http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/ http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/ MicroBridge is an Android Debug Bridge (ADB) implementation for microcontrollers. MicroBridge allows stock, unrooted Android devices to talk directly to USB host enabled MCUs, thereby enabling phones to actuate servos, drive DC motors, talk to I2C and SPI devices, read ADCs, and so forth.

ck2 16y ago

That visual charger is slick. A little OT, but does anyone understand why there aren't usb-to-ethernet adapters for android devices? I have an environment where I cannot use wifi but want network connectivity.

zer0her0 16y ago
One of those G's isn't enough? 3G? 4G?
- unwind 16y ago
  Bandwidth over 3G or 4G is rarely free; bandwidth over wired Ethernet very typically is.
- ck2 16y ago
  no cell or wifi communication possible, but ethernet available I've seen a usb tunnel for iphone but never anything for android.
JonnieCache 16y ago
The android ADB debugging protocol includes the ability to forward UNIX sockets over the usb link, so your phone has this facility built in. http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html#forwardports http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html... Unless I have misunderstood the adb docs, it shouldnt be too hard to set up, even though it only seems to allow ports to be forwarded from the host to the phone, rather than the other way around. Nimble use of netcat/iptables should remedy this. EDIT: people seem to be calling it "reverse tethering" and while it involves the adb, it doesnt use the port forwarding. See: http://blog.mycila.com/2010/06/reverse-usb-tethering-with-android-22.html http://blog.mycila.com/2010/06/reverse-usb-tethering-with-an...
TillE 16y ago
Pick any USB Ethernet adapter supported by Linux, and it should be fairly easy to get it working on your rooted phone. Here's some code showing how to mess with networking on Android: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/ http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  Unfortunately not. Android devices are not yet capable of acting reliably as USB hosts. This means you cannot connect peripheral devices to them. The IOIO works by acting as a USB host itself.

dkersten 16y ago

This is really cool! I've spent the past few weeks working on this[1] with my brother (he built the case and wired/soldered everything; I handled the firmware) and I can think of some awesome applications for this Android board. I'm really excited about the idea of building an Android powered MIDI controller now :) [1] http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28014 http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28014

JonnieCache 16y ago
Beautiful work! I love the arcade cabinet style buttons. What kind of things are you looking to trigger with it? I imagine mashing up breakbeats with those buttons would be really compulsive :)
- dkersten 16y ago
  Thanks! My brother plans on using it for DJing with Traktor. The ideas is that you never ever need to touch a laptop while DJing. I would love to extend it to use an android phone as a display (so that the laptop can be hidden away under the table or whatever). At the moment, we have 4 banks which change the MIDI channel of everything else, and 4 banks for the 16 midifighter buttons. These four banks basically map to each one of four Traktor decks. The 4 "global" banks are then used to choose between browsing through songs, loops, various deck control commands and effects. I imagine mashing up breakbeats with those buttons would be really compulsive :) Its addictive to mash the buttons and see what happens :D Even an unmodded midifighter provides hours of fun, even if (like me and unlike my brother) you're not terribly musical. Anyway, we had a little setback - think we may have fried the atmel mcu.. :'( but once its all finished and cleaned up, I intend on releasing the code and writing a blog post about it, which I'll probably submit to HN.
  - JonnieCache 16y ago
    For the screen, build a model with a grey market PSOne display and a touchscreen layer fitted. That'd be amazing. You should submit to http://hackaday.com http://hackaday.com as well. They'd most likely feature it. Also, have you heard of http://hexler.net/touchosc http://hexler.net/touchosc ? It's brilliant fun on the ipad, I've never tried it on android, but there is a port.

sfgfdhgfdshdhhd 16y ago

Genious! Does anyone know if there are similar equipment for PCs? I want to hook up a laptop to some electronics equipment for data logging. Arduino boards are pretty slick but they need some wrapping to work smoothly, i want to have more recommendations. For clarification, i want the I/O API to be targeted for a program running on the PC. I don't want to write a wrapper in the microcontroller myself and then transfer it over serial port to PC. I want the microcontroller block to be transparent. PC<--->Microcontroller<--->I/O

JonnieCache 16y ago
All development boards will have a USB interface which generally comes up as a serial port. You can then just fire bytes back and forth in whatever way you please. For a comparison of different boards, see: http://hackaday.com/2011/02/01/what-development-board-to-use/ http://hackaday.com/2011/02/01/what-development-board-to-use...
JonnieCache 16y ago
You can always chop the end off an old parallel cable and manipulate the state of each pin using whatever language you want on the PC. It's known as 'bit-banging' I believe. It's a simple way to do GPIO.
- sfgfdhgfdshdhhd 16y ago
  Most new laptops doesn't have parallel or serial port :(
gallamine 16y ago
1)LEGO mindstorms 2) NI DAQs (expensive) 3) BasicStamp (parallax.com) 4) BeagleBoard (then you wont need the PC) 5) Xport (lantronix - has digital IO)
- nitrogen 16y ago
  The USB Bit Whacker is also easy to use and available from SparkFun.

moe 16y ago

Any plans to bring the retroid into mass production? I'd buy one!

Enlightenment 16y ago

I can't believe they chose a PIC24F over an ARM microcontroller.

jberryman 16y ago

Just getting into electronics AND just put my old (non smart) phone through the washer. I guess I'm going to have to get an android!

spazz 16y ago

Ordered! This looks like fun. :)

lutorm 16y ago

That seems cool? But can I get one with a bluetooth interface instead of usb?

mdda 16y ago
Something like this : http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluetooth-modules/bluetooth-io-module-obi411/ http://www.connectblue.com/products/bluetooth-products/bluet... ? Of course, it would be easier to buy if it were on SparkFun...

Enlightenment 16y ago

I can't believe they picked a PIC24F microcontroller. MIght have been better to pick an AVR for Arduino compatibility or even an ARM might have been a better choice.