Does Parallax Have IOT Products?
microcontrolleruser
Posts: 1,194
Look's like IOT is hot right now.
Parallax have anything outstanding for it?
microcontrolleruser
Posts: 1,194
Comments
Parallax is (and has been) more interested in supporting education at the middle school and up through junior college range. IOT is indeed hot now. What will be next? Parallax will be there providing tools for teaching basic concepts.
Hmm.. Internet of Things.
To me that means some kind of processing element that has a "thing" on one side and and internet connection on the other.
Certainly one can do that with a Propeller. But will require a WiFi module or whatever to provide that internet connection.
Certainly there is a lot of competition in this space. For example this https://docs.onion.io/omega2-docs/omega2.html#omega2 or this https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=578484113485 or the well known https://www.espressif.com/en/products/hardware/esp32/overview
I guess it depends on what your "thing" is and how you need to interact with it. There are many things a Propeller can do with "things" that other solutions cannot.
Mike
I think there is a little more to it than that. You're just seeing the consumer side of it.
One old PIC guy which is what Parallax is has a niche business monitoring remotely some awful big operations.
He ain't selling those systems for $499 or anything like that. Then you throw in maintenance contracts.
Here's Wikipedia info.
We're talking IT fortunes to me made.
So. On the other hand users can do IOT projects with Propeller and Stamp.
:
Certainly micro-controllers and WiFi modules,etc, have become so cheap that one can start to think of internet connected light bulbs, toasters, freezers, and all kind of other nonsense.
The other part of this is the internet end. Which is cloud services.
So people start to dream up ways how to extract money from consumers by offering "smart" light bulbs, toasters, etc. Controllable from anywhere with your iPhone etc.
Of course there will be a subscription to pay for these services. Oh and never mind that we are invading your privacy even more. We are very secure and never share your data, honest.
Then in many cases the company goes bust, or they change their system, and boom your "thing" is no longer usable.
Sure, search their store for WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet
Then if you dig into 'IoT', you find they talk about 'the edge', which is the sensors themselves, again plenty of those in the store !
(just not packaged under the fashion buzzwords)
What do you have in mind?
Controlling a robot over the internet?
. . .and, from a web page or a phone?
A GPS location transmitter?
Putting the temperature of your cottage on a web page?
Receiving an e-mail from your microcontroller?
Are you going to make one, or make many?
Are you trying to solve a problem or make a product?
Are you simply trying to send data between two locations? How far apart are they?
Do you want to control your air conditioner from the internet?
Do you want to use a pre-existing app, or make your own (or do you even need a phone app?)?
. . .if you value your time, just buy a new LG air conditioner that is "web ready".
You have to know what you want to do in order to do it. Or, as the Chinese say "if you don't know where you are going, you are sure to get there!".
Does Parallax offer the "outstanding" solution requested? Based on the question I'm going to say NO, we don't. We will be perfectly content LOSING out on the many millions of dollars to be made. It is only practical and possible to do few things very well and a company that aims to do everything with topical treatment is bound to fail. If you want to learn about what we offer you could start here: http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/propeller-c/parallax-wx-wi-fi-module-prop-c. If you don't want to do this in C, you could do it in BlocklyProp. If you want to use Spin and we don't have many resources in Spin for the WX module.
Ken Gracey
And add any one of the Parallax MCU's to the mix. You just have to invent a product to ride on the IoT wave.
EDIT: Ken and I were typing at the same time, but Ken has more words than me.
Hello!
Mike supposes you break it down for the rest of us. What are you looking for exactly?
You are asking for a big request. The store sells whole processors, (or even 8 of them in one container) it certainly sells sensors and actuators, and fortunately it has started to sell better WiFi examples.
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(they range from beginner to EXPERT level)
Parallax Telepresence Robot Kit
https://www.parallax.com/product/32800
Badge WX for BlocklyProp
https://www.parallax.com/product/20300
And all the modules serve webpages and web data, thus they are themselves an IOT device, standalone too.
https://www.parallax.com/product/32420s
https://www.parallax.com/product/32420d
https://www.parallax.com/product/32412
https://www.parallax.com/product/32413
Sorry, they do not yet have a fridge that orders you milk when you run out using the ... internet, stamped with the parallax open source logo.
HOWEVER, you COULD mod your current fridge with a rfid reader connected to a prop connected to a wxesp8266,.
Then put a rfid reader in your fridge and in every one of your cupboards, and a tag on every product, and you will have a total inventory of your kitchen.
Then you can, at any time, connect to your IOT kitchen when AT the grocery store using putty(other putty compatible terminal programs are available for phones)
And see what and how many products are currently in your kitchen, goodbye grocery lists.
Thus getting closer to accomplishing the goal of most people, an automated kitchen.
But thats not a bad idea. What say you parallax, gettin into the fridge business? I need a new one, it can't keep the fridge AND the freezer proper when the season changes...
But if I could re-program it....
Well now, that changes everything.
HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT microcontrolleruser?
Every company under the sun is going closed... do you REALLY trust that HUE light hub that runs phillips code that you CANNOT SEE?
Since when do companys actually CARE about their customers security,,,, for real,,, if it means they need to re-invest coders to review old code for security.
They ALL abandon their products as soon as they re-hash it into a new model, (3-6months).
And these HOT IOT products are no exception. Abandon-ware is what happens to the firmware code that just opened a back door thru ARLO code, on your ARLO IOT camera system.
OH DARN, you mean we need to buy new IOT products every YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To get that latest un-hackable code that your company just made...and nay return.
What??????????///,,, what do you know, I can fix the darn source myself with parallax.
THANKS PARALLAX FOR THE OPEN SOURCE IOT STUFF!
So you want IOT you say. well lets just start right, right away, with an open source company.
Open source, IOT---- man.
http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/169250/parallax-esp-wx-esp8266-wifi-module-raspberrypi-esp-open-sdk-compile-customize-it
Right now, If I wanted to, I could open up port 23 on my router, for my parallax wx-esp8266 module, and YOU, at your current location, could connect to MY IOT device.
Using the program putty, telnet to my IP, and you would see the temps in my greenhouse on your screen.
If I wanted, I could see the temps in my greenhouse from the other side of the world, using putty, and a parallax wxesp8266 board, a parallax propeller chip, and any one of many sensors in their store.
Its ALL in their store, just not stuffed into a prefabbed fancy plastic box in china, and coded with bugged code that you will NEVER get access too...
These companies are ashamed of their own code, and the bugs/shortcuts/copyright issues in their code makes it impossible in their view, naturally, to open it.
Again, thanks parallax, keep doin what yer dooin.
Couldn't put it better myself. Next time we have a job opening I'll contact you!
Ken Gracey
Here's Intel's pitch.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/internet-of-things/overview.html?cid=sem43700032464735568&intel_term=+iot&campaign_name=IntelB2B^IOT^GenericBucket^BMM&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_-Cl0c3a3gIVUxx9Ch3hRwWqEAAYAiAAEgIzLvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Looks like it has been going on for awhile.
Well. We have a transmit/receive with little 417kz hardware lesson to do coming up.
What kind of IOT savvy points do we get for that?:)
Parallax ought to have an IOT category in their Shop.
Here's what ARM is doing. Probably just part of it.
I would think Parallax would want to elbow their way in their.
Thanks Mike
I put post down in Stamp section.
You're entitled to your opinion. I think Ken Gracey
said things well. There are a lot of questions about IOT
that need to be answered for Parallax before it would
make sense for them to have IOT as a category in their
Shop, in the code repositories, in their support structure,
etc.
The Intel link points to a pretty "brochure" website. There's
not much content other than "look what great stuff we have
to do whatever you need in a wonderful modern way". It sure
is pretty though ... and promises everything ... as long as you
stick with Intel.
Parallax sells an ESP8266 board; that's about as IoT as it gets. But the only reason we know how to program those things is that hackers translated the Chinese documentation back when they were introduced. There are some cool dev platforms available now, but it's a single core processor and somewhat limited if you want the wifi stuff to actually work along with your business logic. The ESP32 looks promising but it's about where the ESP8266 was when it first showed up as far as support. And nobody else can really touch the price points ExpressIF made with those chips; the closest runner-up is the TI platform that's about $40 a unit as opposed to $3 for the ESP.
Hello!
Oddly enough, you're right. Regardless of what some advertisements would want us to believe, example the IBM Cloud and IOT one it lacks credibility.
The big problem is that the there is a honking big lack of something special, need, to make the whole idea work.
Roger, if you ever visit NYC, I've got a deli who'd love to meet you. Because you're right. There are scads of advanced ESP8266 boards out there, including the one from Parallax, but for the ESP32, so far I've only seen one from Adafruit.
Basically the market needs definition. Oh and a proper collection of right leaning products designed.
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