Easily build the IoT device you’ve always wanted!
The thingSoC Grovey! platform gives you the freedom to choose from hundreds of existing sensors, actuators, and radios to quickly create new electronic systems, in plug together configurations that were not possible before. Easily mix together different CPUs, Radios, and Peripherals, like Servos, Motors, Relays, Sound and Lights, and then program them in your choice of Integrated Development Environments (IDE).
thingSoC is an Open Source Hardware standard that anyone can use to design new IoT products and widgets; The thingSoC Grovey! series combines access to the Seeedstudio Grove system, and the Mikrobus "Click" system, to give you the widest selection of radios, sensors, and actuators available today.
For Educators, Developers, Systems Integrators, and Hackers
Many classrooms, laboratories, shops, and hacker spaces already have access to the Grove ecosystem, with sensors, relays, actuators, and other components; often purchased (or donated) in kits for the Intel Edison, Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone, or the Arduino. However, they have not typically had experience with the Mikrobus "Click" ecosystem, and it’s wider selection of radios and useful peripherals, that complement the Grove ecosystem.
The thingSoC Grovey! series is the missing link, connecting together these formerly incompatible systems in many new and exciting ways. Grovey! allow you to connect, communicate, and reprogram the widest variety of different processors, radios, sensors, and actuators available today.
Choose from off-the-shelf, certified, radio modules like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRa, EnOcean, LTE, Packet Radio, and more. Choose from hundreds of in-stock, sensors and actuators available at Mouser, Arrow, Digikey, SeeedStudio and others, giving you the best plug-and-play platform choices.
ReMix, ReUse, ReEngineer!
thingSoC gives you the ability to combine many different development systems and peripherals, allowing you to reuse electronics that you may already have, in new and interesting ways. Unfortunately, as technology advances, many systems can become obsolete, getting added to the electronics waste stream. By enabling our users to easily remix and reuse components for their new applications, they won’t have to purchase new sets of sensors and actuators for each new platform they use, or each new class or workshop they teach. ReMix, ReUse, ReEngineer, ReCycle…
Grovey Product Comparisons
| Feature | Arduino Pro | Grovey One | Grovey Teensy | Grovey I2C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | AVR | AVR | Cortex-M4F | N/A |
| Speed | 16 MHz | 16 mHz | 96 MHZ | 1 Mhz |
| Flash | 32K | 32K | 256K | N/A |
| SRAM | 2K | 2K | 64K | N/A |
| Voltage | Fixed 3.3V/5V | Selectable 3.3V/5V | 3.3V Only | Selectable 3.3V/5V |
| Programming | FTDI | FTDI | USB | N/A |
| I2C Ports | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Grove Ports | 0- | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Mikrobus Ports | 0- | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| thingSoC Ports | 0- | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Arduino IDE | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Blynk IDE | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cayenne IDE | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The thingSoC "Grovey Series" was designed as "Everyday Electronics"; a no-frills, low cost, approach to modular embedded product design. thingSoC boards are similar in size to most break-out-boards (BOBs), but feature a standardized stacking pinout, as well as a metadata store (Embedis) to store configuration settings.
Integrated Development Environments
The thingSoC Grovey! platform gives you the freedom to choose the environment you are most comfortable with; or the tools you need to learn a new one.
Prototype with Arduino
The thingSoC Grovey! series supports multiple platforms types including AVR, ARM, ESP8266, and Intel x86/Currie based platforms on the Arduino IDE. In addition, the thingSoC Embedis embedded database is available for most of the supported platforms; allowing you to easily add permanent storage to your projects using EEPROM, FRAM, NVSRAM, MRAM, and FLASH modules.
IoT Drag-and-Drop with MQTT, Blynk, and Cayenne
The thingSoC Grovey! series supports several different drag-and-drop Internet of Things (IoT) development systems, Blynk
Choose the development environment that you want to use!
Surprise Drawing
All backers will be automatically be entered into a surprise drawing at the conclusion of the campaign. A special collection of thingSoC boards and peripherals will be sent to the lucky winner!
Manufacturing Plan
The thingSoC standard has been in development for over two years, and several revisions of the boards have already been produced and tested. We are ready to begin moving thingSoC into production over the next few months. The current revisions of the thingSoC Grovey! series are implemented using the Seeedstudio Open Parts Library (OPL), which is designed to give the best results and the most flexibility when working with Seeedstudio and several other manufacturing partners.
Risks & Challenges
We have already received pilot runs of fifty (50) boards from Seeedstudio, for the Grovey Teensy3.2 adapter and the Grovey I2C hub, they look great and are working perfectly. Based on the price, quality, and delivery schedule of this pilot run, we are projecting the costs and schedules for this campaign. Based on our initial success with our hand-built prototypes, we expect the transition to production to be relatively low risk. Of course, supply chain issues, fabrication house schedule problems, and other delays happen to anyone, so we will update our backers throughout the campaign if any problems are encountered.
