Hands-on With the Android Open Accessory Development Kit

Unboxing

Hands-on With the Android Open Accessory Development Kit @ MAKE..

Yesterday, Google announced their open accessory kit based on Arduino. Although they aren’t immediately available for sale in the US, they (or something like what you see in this post) will be soon. Also, the design files are available as part of the ADK, which you can download from here.

NOTE: My understanding is that this is based on the Circuits@Home USB Host Shield. If anyone out there has one of these shields, I’d be really interested in hearing in the comments whether the sample app Just Works for you. You’ll need to wire up the sensors and actuators used in the demo kit, but many of these are simple (buttons, LEDs, relays).

Google gave away a few hundred of the kits here at Google I/O 2011, and I got my hands on one. Inside the box are two sub micro servos, a shield that’s loaded with buttons, LEDs, relays, and more. And the board itself is based on the Arduino Mega design, with the USB host module added (this means that there are two USB ports: one to connect to the Android phone, and the usual one to connect to your computer for programming/serial monitor access)…


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1 Comment

  1. The Android board is based on the mega and the USB host board. Any chance that a person could start developing by using those two boards? I went to the site last night to buy the board and the server was overloaded, today they are sold out. They are promising new boards ‘by the end of May’.

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