The Pragmatic Guide to Intel XDK, Intel XDK IoT Edition

Developers for a long time, have been constrained to working with different Software Development Kits (SDKs) in developing mobile apps that purpose to be run on different mobile OS. Traditionally, developers have had to work with Android Studio to develop for Android OS, Visual Studio to develop for Windows Phone OS, and XCode to develop for iOS (which apparently runs on a Mac only). That is until cross-platform application development was conceived. Presently there are a good number of cross platform development tools for one to work with, but there are more than enough reasons why any developer should adopt working with the Intel XDK to develop for just about any mobile OS platform there is out there.

Regardless of server side platform & language experience, a significant number of developers have experience with HTML, JavaScript and CSS. That said, the ultimate solution for hybrid apps development using HTML/CSS/JS is the Intel XDK.

 Intel XDK allows developers to immediately leverage these existing skills. The value of this can’t be overstated – as it reduces training and can enable a quick-to-market stance in companies ready to adopt it. The XDK was released with the aim of satisfying the tagline “Write Once, Run Anywhere”. The concept was simple: use one development tool for the different environments being supported. This just about summarizes why it is stirring up much hype within the developer ecosystem.

Intel At DeKUT is focused on leveraging student developers’ skills on the best technologies, which is why they held an intensive training on the XDK. Intel XDK Training was a one-day event with a mixture of lectures, hand-on tutorials, team based project work and social event, held on 4^th June 2016 at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology Auditorium, led by the current Intel Student Partners +Ngesa Marvin  and +Chris Barsolai . The goal of the event was to train students on cross-platform application development using the Intel XDK and Intel XDK IoT Edition and bring them to a level that allows them to utilize the development tools packaged within the software.

We were thrilled to be joined by so many talented developers from within and outside our developer community. Beginners to experts, developers to makers, all were eager to hear about the latest buzz in town: The Intel XDK. We kicked off the event by Saturday mid-morning with a full-house of programmers eager to get a hold of the XDK package, and start hacking away. Chris Barsolai facilitated the session, briefly taking time at the start to introduce the Tech X team and emphasizing on their quest to engage developers within the community in beneficial open-source projects, sharing and creating an environment that supports developers’ growth.

XDK Once More

Chris then went on to introduce the Intel XDK. To him, simply put, the XDK is a hybrid app building platform that creates and develops apps without breaking the bank. The session was started off moderately, with a little of programming lecture for the audience. The main aim of the session was to make trainees knowledgeable of the elements used in hybrid mobile app development. Students were led through techniques of mobile application development, and how to go about building intuitive web apps using the powerful tools provided within the software. Barsolai’s mid-morning presentation highlighted on a good number of topics that included: syntax for the main web languages(HTML5/CSS3/JS), Webview, Apache Cordova APIs, the XDK Project Structure, frameworks for creating mobile apps, and mainly the toolset provided within the Intel XDK.

Barsolai stressed on why developers should shift over to making their hybrid apps with the Intel XDK, basing it majorly on the fact that the XDK makes use of Apache Cordova libraries built into it to create a native feel of the apps developed within its environment.

With the lecture session over, trainees got to take a breather while feasting on some eateries. They say a dev can survive on sugary munchies and code, and this was just about proven right during our training session.

The afternoon session was started off by a Women in Technology talk session, facilitated by the Google Women TechMakers Lead, Everlyne Kaberere. Everlyne is a strong advocate for women involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). She emphasized on the need to involve more ladies in such events within the university, urging more awareness campaigns to be run such as Intel She Will Connect.

Deep Dive

Barsolai then facilitated the XDK practical session which was highlighted by an intensive training of the Intel XDK, taking participants through all the tools availed within the platform. Trainees were bright-eyed as they got their first on-screen feel of the XDK. It was intended that every developer who was a part of the event got to practically interact with the environment and utilize the tools within it. The session was highly interactive as devs got to contribute in building the training app.

A simple ‘Intel At DeKUT App’ was created. With the HTML5+Cordova project type selected, trainees got down to working on the app. According to the audience, the most fascinating feature of the XDK was the App Designer GUI layout editor, which lets one create a fully functional UI of mobile app without writing even a single line of code. A simple log in page was first created, and alternate pages designed. Buttons were then linked to appropriate pages to create a simplified navigation of the app.

Project Workarea of the XDK

Barsolai then demonstrated another useful feature of the XDK, which allows one to run the app on a real mobile device without performing a full build. This is highly assistive when one needs to perform debugging. Finally, the app was packaged as an android app and build performed on cloud. The final build of the demo app fascinated the audience who unanimously agreed that the app would be actualized, so watch out people, Intel At DeKUT has an app coming out soon, fully developed and built within the XDK.

NodeBots, Jonny five with Intel Edition

Thereafter, Ngesa Marvin introduced the audience into the concepts of Johnny-Five and JS robotics (NodeBots) and how they can utilize node Js to build JavaScript robots, the NodeBots. There has been a rapid rise in the use of JavaScript in recent times in a variety of applications, and JavaScript robotics has seen a rise in popularity too. There were shown how Nodebots makes the process of programming hardware circuitry very similar to how one would program a modern web page.

He walked the developers through the basic robotics projects including the physical hardware builds and the JavaScript code for them. They were also taken through the syntax of Node Js, libmraa and lib upm.

They were then introduced to the Intel Edison and shown the different features of the board. They were also shown the different breakouts boards that work with Intel Edison which includes Arduino Expansion Board, Intel Edison breakout board, and Spankfun boards. During the same session the developers were given justifications why JavaScript and Intel XDK IoT Edition are the perfect match for the bots.

Ngesa Marvin explaining a concept on Jonny five JavaScript robotics framework

Node Js on Yocto (Intel XDK IoT Edition)

During this session, Ngesa Marvin took the attendees right into the heart of Intel XDK IoT Edition. The developers were given Intel XDK IoT Edition to install and shown where they can find the latest version at the Intel Developer Zone. They were guided through creating simple projects from the inbuilt templates and on how to run them on IoT Devices. They were shown how to assemble the Intel Edison and the various ways to connect the Intel Edison to a network. The new Starter kit for the Intel Edison was also introduced to the developers and a quick tour of the several features in the Intel XDK IoT Edition environment given.

The Intel Edison was then linked wirelessly to the Intel XDK IoT Edition on a host computer connected to the same network and several prototypes build with the starter kit sensors. Different sensors and actuators were then added to the IoT projects and different changes made to the projects. They were then shown how to debug them on the board using the Intel XDK IoT Edition. 

One of the prototypes developed during the Intel XDK IoT Edition Hands on Session

By the end of the XDK IoT Edition session, it was clearly evident that students had seen the true power that the cross-platform development environment gives to mobile app & web app developers.  Knowing that training is a process and not an event and ensuring the training had a lasting impact, ISPs carried out follow-up trainings which saw over 10 fully built prototypes developed using the XDK.

Intel She will connect program 2015| closing the Internet gender gap by connecting girls and women to opportunity through technology.

Technology and the Internet is transforming the lives of billions of people across the planet. In new and profound ways, people are connecting to the world. It functions as a gateway to ideas, resources, and opportunities that never could have been realized before, let alone fathomed. All around the world, the Internet is helping people to imagine new possibilities.  But research clearly shows that girls and women are being left behind.

We believe education is a fundamental right for everyone and technology opens doors to opportunity. Women throughout the world alike are being marginalized. Unemployment and illiteracy are some of the biggest hindrances in the lives of women. Women struggle to earn minimum wages as finding jobs is no easy task. Without access to the Internet, women lack access to its tools, resources and opportunities, therefore resulting into Internet gender gap, which has very serious consequences, not just for women and girls but also for the society at large.

For all this reasons, American multinational technology company, Intel Corporation has launched the ‘She will connect’ program that is set to improve the lives of women and girls around the world through technology.  

The program brings together a range of global and local partners, with strong gender, ICT and development programming expertise. The program aims to close the internet gender gap, connecting millions of girls and women to opportunity. Using an innovative combination of digital literacy training, an online peer network, and gender-relevant content, the program will help young women acquire or improve digital literacy skills and expand their understanding and use of technology.

Showing women and girls the potential of the web will showcase ways in which women and girls can uplift themselves.  It will support more job and income opportunity, better access to healthcare and financial services, and better access to financial information, government services and entrepreneurship opportunities. It is to this end that Intel would like to expand the She Will Connect program to the Kenyan women and girls.

With digital literacy skills, young women will have a better chance to increase their income, receive better education, enhance their political participation and have a stronger voice in their communities. She Will Connect is going to be hugely transformational to women, families and communities and is crucial for sustainable development.

This is indeed the best time in the history of the world to be a girl/lady. There are so many opportunities that girls and women can connect with through technology. Kindly follow the conversation online using the hashtag #SheWillConnect #IntelAtDekut on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platform. 

INTEL IoT BUILDATHON

A Node Js on Yocto Experience!

 

Open source electronics is on the rise, no doubt, and Intel at dekut is at the fore front of this revolution. Intel IoT Buildathon was another success. The event saw 63 attendees converge at the Dedan Kimathi University incubation center, DeHUB to improve their skill using Intel Galileo and Intel XDK IoT Edition, and to create solutions for local communities. The major focus was to let developers get into the internet of things world using Intel Galileo and Intel XDK IoT Edition with Node Js.

Wednesday 30^th September, 2015 9:00 am| Registration Desk

Anticipation was already high as early as 8.30 am and by nine am several people had lined up at our registration desk. They were warmly welcomed by the registration team. They produced their free Eventbrite tickets, their names were checked after which they were allowed to get in.

 

Morning session, 9:30-12.30 am

The event kicked off at 9.30 am after a good number had got in, +Ngesa Marvin  gave a keynote address thanking everyone for coming and encouraging people to create awareness through the social media platforms using the hangtags #AndroidOnIntel and #IntelAtDekut . He then took the audience through the event schedule and made them aware that the event was fully sponsored by Intel.

Students were also enlightened about the Intel Student Partner Program and informed on what the student partnership spells out for them, and the perks it brings. He also encourage the students to apply for the program in future.

+Billy Rotich then introduced the Internet of Things (IoT) by defining it as an environment in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interactions. He emphasized on how Intel helps connect things to the cloud with secure data management.

He also touched on the IoT building blocks listing them as Things, Gateways, Network & Cloud and Service creation. He concluded by covering the applications of IoT in the industry. He mentioned that in the automotive sector, consumers want the digital experiences in their vehicles to align with the ones they enjoy everywhere else. With IoT in the energy industry, consumers, businesses, and utility providers get the information they need to better manage their energy-connected things to consume less energy.

Thereafter +Michael Ikua took it up and talked about getting started with Intel Galileo and Intel Edison using Wyliodrin. Wyliodrin is a web-based service that offers a visual IDE for your development boards. It is accessible directly from any browser and is compatible with both Intel Edison and recently the 2nd generation Intel Galileo platforms etc, with only minimal configuration requirements for your board.  He listed the benefits of using Wyliodrin and encouraged the upcoming developers to kick start their developer journey using Intel Galileo and Intel Edison with Wyliodrin.

INTEL EDISON 101

Soon after, +C, took to the stage and talked about the Intel Edison. He started off by giving a brief introduction on the Edison and why Intel decided to come up with the miniature device.

Barsolai then went on to give an overview of the Edison and why to many, it still is a wonder how the device was conceived. According to him, the Edison is a whole computer on a tiny chip, or more figuratively, it is a tiny power efficient development platform the size of an SD Card. With the Edison, it features a less familiar albeit much more practical higher density connector, but while still retaining a truly

Barsolai explained why the Edison was a fundamental must-have development platform for IoT lovers. The Intel Edison development platform was designed to lower the barriers to entry for a range of Inventors, Entrepreneurs and consumer product designers to rapidly prototype and produce IoT and wearable computing products.  

As conclusion to his presentation, Barsolai finished with an outstanding encouragement to every tech lover to get more involved in technological projects and use Intel architecture.

In between, developers were served with refreshments.

MPESA DISPENSOR | A cell phone mobile money controlled dispensing machine

Arunga Sang then introduced their Mpesa Dispenser. In this project, Sang argues that:

Dispensing applications that exist today requires:

a). A buyer to use coins to buy goods. Coins are bulky and at times coins become scarce in an economy. Those two problems make the existing dispensing machines inefficient.

b). A buyer to use smart card to buy goods. Smart cards require internet connection to a bank account , which at times is poor hence no one can buy goods at that time. Smart cards give one access to all your money in a bank account and incase it is stolen one can lose all the money they have in a bank account.

Besides that, one needs a third party at the dispensing application so as to buy goods. But with their project, the Cell-phone controlled dispensing machine uses CELL-PHONE MOBILE MONEY to buy goods. CELLPHONE MOBILE MONEY overcomes the problem associated with scarcity of coins in an economy, since one can send the exact amount of money needed to buy goods. With CELL-PHONE MOBILE MONEY, the buyer’s money in the bank account is not vulnerable to fraud as it is with smart card since the buyer’s money in CELL-PHONE MOBILE MONEY is not linked to the lump sum money in the bank. Thus a buyer only loads CELL-PHONE MOBILE MONEY account on the cell phone with only the money that is meant for expenditure. Finally, there is a higher adoption rate for CELL-PHONE MOBILE MONEY than it is for smart cards, in Kenya. Therefore a Cell-phone controlled dispensing application will be popular than any dispensing application. 

Let’s Do it Live | Room Temperature Detection with Intel Galileo, Mobile App and Temperature sensor…

+Alfred Muriithi then took the audience through a live demo on how to set up an interactive room temperature project with lcd rbg and temperature sensor using intel Galileo and grove kit sensors.

Once the code is uploaded, the LCD showed an initial purple light (because of color R, color G and color B set at 255 each). As soon as the Temperature sensor sensed the room temperature, which it checked after every 5 seconds, the following 2 conditions took place:

If the Temperature is less than 27 degrees,

For temperature greater than 27 degrees,

  

Break, 11.30-12.00 am

We then had a break where everyone got a chance to enjoy the juice and snacks, this also provided a short networking session where the attendees met old friends, made new valuable friends and even exchanged contacts.

Second Session, 12.00- 1.00 pm

OPEN SOURCE ELECTRONICS/JAVASCRIPT ELECTRONICS AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS

Since we were young, no one likes sharing.  We kept our toys away because we felt other people were going to break them. This trends is the same in business, we patent our ideas and make them remain ours, but when it comes to social media we have the fascination of sharing every details about ourselves, about our everyday lives. +Ngesa Marvin  got to stage and explained the new concept of open source community and on how we can still earn money with open source concept. He explained how open source software communities such as Firefox, Android and Linux have built amazing software’s. The same now with hardware such as Intel Galileo and Intel Edison where people build amazing things.

In sharing, he explained that there will be better quality products as developers get feedback from people who are using that product all the way from the development cycle. He explained about Arduino, the first open source hardware platform, and how Intel developed Galileo from Arduino.  He encouraged the developers to work together, rethink the entire education system, and to share knowledge to promote the open source community, because in shiring they also learn.

INTEL GALILEO LESSON ZERO

He then introduced the microcontroller board as a rapid prototyping environment which combines the power of Linux, Intel Quark processor and Arduino programming environment. The new developer board is simple interactive and can support complex projects like humanoid robots. The main advantage of using Quark processors is that it that it is faster and power efficient compared to other well-known architectures. Besides that, Galileo has an on-board RTC (real time clock), which is able to track time even when the board is powered off. Other boards rely on connection to the Internet to get the current date and time. . He also talked about other features of the board such as Serial, W-Fi, Bluetooth and GSM cards Connectivity, USB Interface, Wireless Access among others.

He also took the newbies into step by step installation of Intel Galileo drivers and the Arduino IDE then showed them the code structure.  He advised the audience to later apply the knowledge in building something that could solve problems in our own country.

  

Lunch Break 1.00pm- 2.00 pm

Afternoon Session |2.00pm-3.30pm

Node Js on Yocto

The web is evolving, web technology is jumping beyond the browser. From design to languages. This was brought into light by +Denzel Wambugu who gave a guide to IoT the JavaScript Way using Intel Galileo. He explained how various programming languages are now being used to program robots, embedded devices and various physical technologies. Here is a rough list:

• Nodebots (nodebots.io)
• Artoo (artoo.io)
• GoBots (gobots.io)

He explained how the various techniques have enabled and equipped web developers with superpowers to program devices that run on runtime and understand their web codes. This gives them the ability to design and make IOT systems with their coding skills using Intel architecture.

NODEBOTS

He also explained about Nodebots, robots driven by JavaScript and elaborated on the various libraries that enable this. Some few include:

• Johnny-five (johnny-five.io)
• Cyclon Js
• Mraa

He then took the developers through the processes of downloading and installing Node Js. He showed them how to plug in their boards and load them with standard firmata. (Going to edit>examples>firmata>standardfirmata).

He also took them through the use of terminal where developers entered their project directory. Jonny five was  installed using node package manager and developers were able to use their favorite editor to hack into Galileo Boards.  Developers then dived into the hello world moments by typing the codes below and running the JavaScript file.

var five = require("johnny-five");

var board = new five.Board();

board.on("ready", function() {

  var led = new five.Led(13);

  led.blink(1500);

});

The LED pin 13 on the Galileo Board then blinked after a half a second.

Women and Tech| 3.30pm-4.00 pm

After one and a half hour deep into JavaScript Electronics, +Ev took to the stage and talked about women in technology. The ladies were advised to take one step at a time to learn so as to widen their minds to seek various opportunities.  “Men and ladies have the same minds and ladies have been known to succeed in other fields for instance in Economics, and hence ladies can succeed too in this field, “She said.

She appreciated the amazing ladies who braved the man-dominated tech world and placed everything aside to attend this event. She pointed out that Intel at DeKUT should increase the visibility, community and resources for technical women.

Ladies were part of the event too, and they truly enjoyed themselves.

 

 Startup X Hour|4.OO-5.OOpm 

DeKUT APP

Just like any university, life in Dekut can be pretty hectic. There is so much that happens around that in some cases, we only hear off when it’s too late or when it's passed. Therefore a great need for information. Good thing is, this information is available, and the only problem is how to access it.

Well, a member of Intel at DeKUT developers’ community used Intel XDK to develop a mobile app that let student push notifications and announce without going to the noticeboard.

The app is already in play store, with a good number of downloads. They believe the Intel XDK Built app will be the best campus companion in the students’ hands.

M.I.Tek

Another start up, MITek then went on stage. The startup trains embedded software programming and suppliers open source hardware such Intel Galileo, Intel Edison, sensors and other hardware’s.

 The startup strive to advance knowledge and educate students in various learning institutions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through Innovations.

EGAS

Soon after, +Felix Kipkoech took it up, they are connecting gas sellers to the consumers. They are already supplying the gas in Nyeri town. They have partnered with local suppliers connecting them with potential buyers.

Leaked! |SoftBallot releasing their third version soon

 Athena I, softballot third version is coming. The SoftBallot Chief Technology Officer, +Irene Ng’etich confirmed that in her presentation during the startup x hour. In all institutions of higher learning across our continent manual voting has been the means through which elections are carried out. Manual voting has had its fair share of challenges in that a lot of time is wasted, it is inconveniencing and the cost incurred is immense. This is why, as Irene Ng’etich, explains, they came up with +Softballot Kenya 

“SoftBallot is a simple, secure and suffrage online voting system which guarantees accurate and real-time results. Using SoftBallot, you can actually vote from any part of the world,” she said.

She continued to explain the journey to where they have reached as a start-up company, the great brains behind the success of the company and the vision they have which is actually to completely revolutionize how our society make decisions.

They believe SoftBallot Athena will be a turning point, in their lives, in the history of democracy and the history of civilization. They feel the ordinary people should have freedom, a chance to shape their own destiny, and a chance to govern themselves.

Their dream is to empower ordinary people with the best possible election tools and set their fellow citizens and the whole world to the path of true democracy.

You can follow their activities on twitter @softballot and on Facebook; #Elections360degrees #Egineeringdemocracy and #Democracyhandledwithcare

As a great indication of their determination, the Technical lead announced that they will be releasing the SoftBallot’s 3^rd version in October. 

The Journey thus far| A fireside chat with DeKUT Tech X.

The event concluded with a chat from members of Tech X. Their core believe, they says is using technology to turn problems into innovations, all for humanity and at the same time build a strong tech community where people can share and learn from each other.

They explained how they got motivated from a generation os students they found in dekut and how that generation set them to a non-reversible path of tech. They also talked about their enthusiasm in changing the institution that houses them for the better. They talked about team work and what can be possible when different people with unique skills work together and why they feel DeKUT has the potential to become a great university like MIT. 

They called upon everyone to find something unique in which they can work on and make significant contributions to their lives, their university and the community.

The event concluded with a closing remarks from +Ngesa Marvin . Special gratitude to +Intel  for granting us such an amazing opportunity. The best company of all!