Arduino Oplà IoT Kit makes building devices simple

The Arduino Oplà IoT Kit allows you to manage and control connected devices from multiple interfaces, such as the Oplà hardware device, custom web dashboards and the iOS/Android mobile app. 

The kit contains eight IoT projects that can offer different experiences for each user based on their individual level of expertise, from maker to professional. This includes four out-of-the-box projects that are ready to deploy around the house: remote controlled lights, a home weather station, a smart garden and a thermostat control.

In addition, there are four projects for users to grasp core IoT concepts and how they can be integrated into real-life applications: home security alarm, solar system tracker, remote messaging and inventory management - all of which can be monitored and controlled via the Arduino IoT Cloud. More projects will be released in the future as online tutorials, in addition to projects shared by the community of users on Arduino Project Hub.

With no soldering necessary, the Oplà IoT Kit is good for beginners, but it is also a valuable resource for experienced users. It is based on the Oplà unit, which is a carrier board with an OLED colour display, on-board sensors (temperature, humidity, pressure, IMU, light), capacitive touch buttons, buzzer, colour LEDs, 24V relays, SD card reader. The carrier includes a slot for a battery with an integrated battery charger, which makes the device portable and wireless.

The kit also contains an MKR WiFi 1010 board and a round plastic enclosure, and two more external sensors, such as motion sensor and moisture sensor. Thanks to the swappable MKR WiFi 1010 board, users will be able to choose another connectivity method by plugging another board from the MKR family in order to switch to GSM, LoRa, NarrowBand or more.

The Oplà IoT Kit acts as the physical interface of the Arduino IoT Cloud, which allows users to build dashboards and plot data in real-time, while browsing values along a timeline. This is all controllable from a mobile with the Arduino IoT Remote app. Compatibility with Amazon Alexa enables seamless voice control to integrate custom connected devices into a real-life setting. The kit comes with a 12 months subscription to the Arduino Create MKR Plan, with premium access to the Arduino IoT Cloud.

Commenting on the launch, Fabio Violante, CEO at Arduino said: “When creating the Oplà IoT Kit, we wanted to design a platform that would allow anyone to gain a complete experience of what the Internet of Things has to offer around the home or workplace and I really believe we have achieved this. It is a great kit for users to build custom devices and enjoy being creative, no matter your level of experience. With this launch, we take yet another step towards lowering the barrier to entry for IoT development and cannot wait to see the projects created by users embracing connected devices both in their homes and at work.”