Rebecca Franks introduces Android Things, an extension of Android for building IoT devices. Android Things allows developers to use familiar Android tools to build intelligent devices that can be securely deployed at scale. It differs from Android by being optimized for embedded devices without displays. Developers can easily integrate hardware using APIs like GPIO, PWM, I2C and drive peripherals. The presentation demonstrates building a simple Android Things app to control an LED from a button press and provides example projects for a distributed piano and electricity monitor using Firebase.

1. Rebecca Franks
riggaroo.co.za
@riggaroo
The IoT platform for everyone

2. Hello
Rebecca Franks
Android Engineering Lead at
Dynamic Visual Technologies
Google Developer Expert for Android
riggaroo.co.za
@riggaroo

3. Expectation vs Reality

6. What is Android Things?

7. Android Things is an extension of the Android
platform for IoT and embedded devices.

8. Cameras
Gateways
HVAC Control
Smart Meters
Point of Sale
Inventory Control
Interactive Ads
Vending Machines
Security Systems
Smart Doorbells
Routers
Energy Monitors
Asset Tracking
Fleet Management
Driver Assist
Predictive Service
Ideal for powerful, intelligent devices that need to
be secure.

9. How is Android Things different?
Android
Studio
Android SDKs
& Developer
Tools
Firebase
Libraries
Google Cloud
Platform SDKs
Any other
compatible
Android/Java
libraries...

10. IoT Developer
Console
Automatic
Security Updates
Signed Images Verified Boot
Easy and Secure Deployment

11. SoM
Architecture
Google Managed
BSP
Scaling to Production

12. Android Things for Developers

15. Displays are Optional
Consider Alternate UI

16. Cons
● Only Dev Preview
● Weave not yet available for Android Things
● Very new - Not many examples online - mostly Python
● Some APIs not supported - ie hardwareAcceleration
● Closed Source

17. Electronics Basics

18. Components
Breadboard - Construction base for
prototyping electronics
Jumper Wire - Used to interconnect the
components of a breadboard

19. LEDs - Emits visible light when an
electric current passes through it
Push Switches - Allows electricity
to flow between its two contacts
Components

20. Resistor -Used to reduce current flow
Source: http://www.electronicshub.or g/resistor-color-code/
Components
and many more...

21. Ohm’s Law
The current through a conductor
between two points is directly
proportional to the voltage across
the two points.
V = I * R
V is Voltage (volts)
I is Current (amps)
R is Resistance (ohms)
I = 0.023A
V = 5V
R = 5V / 0.023A
R = ± 217 ohms

22. Building an Android Things app

23. Pinout Diagram

24. Fritzing Diagrams

25. Integrating with Hardware
GPIO
PWM
I2C
SPI
UART
Input
Sensors
GPS
Peripheral
Driver
Library
Peripheral I/O
User Drivers

26. Let’s try live coding..

27. In case of emergency

28. ● A Raspberry Pi 3 or alternative - Running Android Things
● Create standard project in Android Studio
● Add to app level build.gradle:
provided 'com.google.android.things:androidthings:...'
Getting Started

29. <application ...>
<uses-library android:name="com.google.android.things"/>
<activity ...>
...
<!-- Launch activity automatically on boot -->
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.IOT_LAUNCHER"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
AndroidManifest.xml

30. Button button = new Button("BCM6",Button.LogicState.PRESSED_WHEN_LOW);
button.setOnButtonEventListener(new Button.OnButtonEventListener() {
@Override
public void onButtonEvent(final Button button,final boolean pressed) {
//...
Log.i(TAG, "Button value changed:" + pressed);
ledGpio.setValue(pressed);
}
});
Button Press
compile 'com.google.android.things.contrib:driver-button:0.2'

31. //get access to the pin
PeripheralManagerService service = new PeripheralManagerService();
ledGpio = service.openGpio("BCM6");
ledGpio.setDirection(Gpio.DIRECTION_OUT_INITIALLY_LOW);
ledGpio.setValue(true);
//remember to close the peripheral
ledGpio.close();
Turn on an LED

32. Turn it on or off using Firebase Realtime DB
FirebaseDatabase.getInstance().getReference("ledKitchen")
.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() {
@Override
public void onDataChange(final DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {
Boolean value = (Boolean) dataSnapshot.getValue();
ledGpio.setValue(value);
//.. handle exceptions
}
//..
});

33. Demo

34. Other Examples

35. https://github.com/riggaroo/android-things-distributed-piano
Distributed Piano

36. https://github.com/riggaroo/android-things-electricity-monitor
Firebase Realtime
Database
Electricity Monitor

37. final DatabaseReference onlineRef = firebaseDatabase.child(".info/connected");
final DatabaseReference isPowerOnRef = firebaseDatabase.child("/online");
onlineRef.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() {
@Override
public void onDataChange(final DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {
if (dataSnapshot.getValue(Boolean.class)) {
isPowerOnRef.setValue(true);
isPowerOnRef.onDisconnect().setValue(false);
}
}
//..
});
Electricity Monitor - Firebase

38. https://github.com/androidthings/sample-tensorflow-imageclassifier
Image Classifier

44. Image Classifier

45. Rebecca Franks
riggaroo.co.za
@riggaroo
Google's IoT Developers Community
https://g.co/iotdev
Google's IoT Solutions
https://iot.google.com
Android Things SDK
https://developer.android.com/things

46. Rebecca Franks
riggaroo.co.za
@riggaroo
www.devconf.co.za/rate

47. ● https://www.myelectronicslab.com/tutorial/raspberry-pi-3-gpio-model-b-
block-pinout/
● https://developers.google.com/weave/
● https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/24/why-iot-security-is-so-critical/
● https://github.com/androidthings/sample-simplepio/
● https://developer.android.com/things/index.html
● https://github.com/riggaroo/android-things-electricity-monitor
● https://github.com/riggaroo/android-things-distributed-piano
● https://github.com/riggaroo/android-things-button-examples
Links & References