Smart Stuff

The Internet of Things promises smart appliances that can be controlled from phone apps. However, many of those appliances have yet to be built, and many of those that do exist cannot yet interact with each other. DoBots [1], a Dutch robotics company, is challenging both of these limitations with Crownstone, a device that turns the appliances plugged into an electrical outlet into smart devices. Currently in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign [2], the Crownstone is available for both European and North American outlets and can either plug into an outlet or be built into one.

DoBots is a spin-off from Almende [3], an institute that researches robotics, artificial intelligence, and related subjects. DoBots itself develops robots and algorithms for autonomous systems. Free software projects that DoBots has contributed to include Replicator [4], a self-reconfigurable robot, for which it developed a lightweight version of YARP [5]; SwarmControl [6], an app for managing multiple robots; and robots for cleaning and detecting fire.

According to Peet van Tooren, DoBots' CTO, the Crownstone itself is intended to be "both open hardware and software," aside from the use of the nRF51822 semiconductor from Nordic [7] and its SDK, neither of which DoBots owns. However, Anne van Rossum, Dobots' COO, notes that, "Nordic is slowly transitioning to have more and more open source" and hopes that the Crownstone will be completely free eventually, if not necessarily when it first ships.

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