Arduino, myDevices “Automation At Home” Contest Winner Crowned at Maker Faire Bay Area

Maker Faire Bay Area 2017: San Mateo, CA, May 19, 2017 -- Arduino and myDevices joined forces to host a global contest in search for an Internet of Things (IoT) inspired home automation project. Arduino is a world-leading, user-friendly platform for open hardware, and myDevices’ Cayenne is the world’s first drag-and-drop IoT project builder.

In thirty days, thirty projects were submitted in the areas of smart home, security, agriculture, lighting, food preparation, and more. Thirty-four Arduino boards were used, ranging from the Uno to the Mega. More than 130 sensors were deployed, with 87 triggers (alerts), 39 schedules, and 103 actuators. The four judges: Andrew Miller, Makerspaces.com CEO & founder; Chris Aviles, edtech speaker and Google Innovator; Ken Burns, TinyCircuits.com president & founder; and Giovanni Gentile, IoT maker expert & 0lab founder; were impressed with the projects, and ultimately chose Mitch Kempfort, grand prize-winner, for his automated smart aquarium.

Kempfort, awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to Maker Faire Bay Area to exhibit in Cayenne’s booth, along with branded tchotchkes from each company, commented, “As I set out to build the smart aquarium, there were so many components independent of each other, and I wanted a more streamlined, sophisticated way to monitor the entire aquarium. I thought it would be better if they were all connected with a system that would manage and communicate all of it from one place -- the pumps, heater, lights, and feeding, all in one. So, using Arduino, I decided to build a system that
would handle it all, with myDevices’ Cayenne as the command center.”

“This contest searching for the most creative home automation project using an Arduino and Cayenne yielded an impressive array of innovation from across the globe,” said Benny Estes, myDevices Product Manager and Head of the Cayenne Community. “The submissions underscore the ease in which users can now move from ideation to finished projects with user-friendly tools dedicated to makers.”

The winning aquarium was self-regulating, featuring temperature, water flow, and energy consumption monitoring, as well as automated lighting and feeding. An OLED screen displayed from 3D printed housing showed status information through the Cayenne dashboard and mobile app, which also enabled detailed data visualization and remote control. Considering the amount of coding that would have been required to manage such an assortment of sensors, Cayenne allowed Kempfort to ‘put a face’ on the data and made it easy to manage. The project was built using an Arduino Mega, an ESP8266-01S, and a Mega Protoboard.

“It has been impressive to see these innovative projects come in - the passion for IoT in the Arduino community is producing amazing results,” said Federico Musto, Arduino CEO. “As the IoT continues to crystallize in various vertical markets, the flexibility behind Arduino's open technology allows developers to create highly-targeted, more effective applications. This contest has been a fun way to reward these Makers for their creative work.”

The first runner up built an automated home vegetable garden, and the second runner up built a living room control system. For more on the projects, visit myDevices website.

About myDevices
myDevices, an IoT solutions company, is the creator of Cayenne, the world’s first drag-and-drop IoT Project Builder, which enables customers to bring their IoT projects from prototype to mass production. The company also hosts a vibrant online community of IoT developers where users collaborate and share information. myDevices’ connectivity and device-agnostic technology empowers engineers and enterprise partners to easily develop and deploy IoT solutions into their existing infrastructure and business. myDevices is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. For more information and to download Cayenne, please visit www.myDevices.com

About Arduino
Arduino is the world’s leading open-source software and hardware ecosystem. The Company offers IoT developers and Makers of all ages the ability to build smart, connected and interactive devices using affordable technologies. Check us out at www.arduino.org and www.arduino.cc.

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Arduino PR | Kelly Brieger | [email protected] | www.arduino.org | 650.704.1748
myDevices PR | Jake White | jwhite@mydevices | www.mydevices.com | (310) 702-4955