Build your own Google Home using Raspberry Pi and Android Things

A powerful electronics platform running the familiar

Android stack with full Java API support

Arnav Gupta Co-Founder & Android Mentor @ Coding Blocks

THE ANDROID FOR IOT ARCHITECTURE

Familiar Android Stack

Android Things High Level Overview

WHAT BRILLO HAD PROMISED US ?

What part is used from Android ?

What part is used from Android ?

HOW ANDROID THINGS FINALLY PANNED OUT

The full Android Stack

What is present on Android Things

PREPARING FOR THE ANDROID THINGS ADVENTURE

Requirement 1: The Board (any one)

• Raspberry Pi 3

• NXP Pico MX6

• NXP Pico MX7 (Recommend this)

• Intel Edison

• … or crack open an old Android phone you’re not using :P

Requirement 2: Lights and Buttons

• 1xLED + 1xButton + Breadboard + Resistors

• Or, get a Rainbow Hat

Requirement 3: Audio (In & Out)

• Speaker + Mic (if needed, use a 2 to 1 plug)

• Protip: Search for “office conference room speakerphones”

GET YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM

Go to “Android Things Console”

LOL ! Google SEO Fail :P

Create a new product

there

Select your board

Create new factory image

Flash it

• For NXP devices, fastboot flash (like you flash Nexus/Motorola devices)

• For Raspberry, flash SD Card with Etcher

WRITING ANDROID THINGS APPS

Tell Gradle that this is Android Things

Usually you’d want your app to be default and only app

What not to use ?

Supported Google APIs

Unsupported Google APIs

Wait a sec . . . Runtime permissions ?

• Normal Permissions = At install time

• Dangerous Permissions = After device reboot

• No runtime dialog boxes (duh, no display)

Cloud IOT Core = The Firebase for Android Things

LET’S TAKE AN ELECTRONICS CLASS

Basic Electronics supported

• GPIO – Digital Inputs and Outputs

• PWM – (Fake) Analog Inputs and Outputs

• Serial Communication

– I2C (Synchronous, Low Speed, 2-wire)

– SPI (Synchronous, HighSpeed, multi-wire)

– UART (Asynchronous, Only 1 peripheral)

GPIO: Active High vs Active Low

PWM: Analog using Digital

BUTTONS AND LIGHTS

The Button driver

Using the Button

Using the Button

Lighting up LED via GPIO

THE GOOGLE ASSISTANT API

https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/reference/rpc/

DEMO

Links and Resources

• https://github.com/androidthings

• https://github.com/championswimmer/google_assistant_iot (This project I demoed)

• My Slides: https://speakerdeck.com/championswimmer

Weighing Pros and Cons of Android Things

• We get > 50% of powerful Android Stack

• Code sharing with Android applications

• Easier to attach ad-hoc UI

• Future: Easy delivery via Play Store

• Google Backing (duh!)

• Uses a lot of resources (vs Linux Kernel + C/Cpp bin)

• Dodgy async and multi-threading (electronics are always sync)

• Can make similar projects using JS libs in < 5% code

• High code complexity trap

@championswimmer a@cb.lk

@greatindiandev bit.ly/gidslinkedin www.developersummit.com

Conference and Deep Dive Sessions

April 24-28, IISc Bangalore

TM

2018

Register early and get the best discounts!