IoT is an acronym for the Internet of Things, and it refers to devices that are connected via the internet. These include everything from smart thermostats to self-driving cars. But what does this mean? And how can you get started with your own exciting IoT project ideas or topics for beginners? Let’s take a look at some great projects!
What Is An Exciting IoT Project Idea Or Topic For Beginners?
An exciting IoT project idea or topic for beginners means something new and different. It could be anything from building a robot car to creating a device that monitors air quality in your home. The possibilities are endless when it comes to IoT. So if you want to start working on your very first IoT project, here are some suggestions:
1) Build A Robot Car With Arduino
Arduino is one of the most popular microcontrollers out there today. This small computer board has become so popular because it allows people who have no previous experience to build their robots. You don’t need any special skills or tools to use Arduino – all you need is a soldering iron and basic electronics knowledge. If you want to learn more about using Arduino, check out our guide on How To Use Arduino.
2) Create Your Smart Thermometer Using Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pis are tiny computers that cost around $35 each. They come preloaded with the Linux operating system which makes them perfect for running various types of software applications. One such application is called NodeMCU. This program lets users create their wireless temperature sensors. Once they finish programming these sensors, they simply plug them into a laptop or desktop PC where they will run as standalone programs. Check out our tutorial on how to make a simple WiFi thermometer with NodeMCU.
3) Monitor Air Quality In Your Home Using Sensors
If you live in a city like New York City, chances are good that you spend a lot of time indoors. That means you may not always know exactly what kind of pollutants are floating through the air. Luckily, there are many ways to monitor indoor air quality without having to buy expensive equipment. Some examples include monitoring carbon monoxide levels, humidity, and even radon gas. There are also DIY kits available online that allow anyone to do this themselves.
4) Make A Self Driving Vehicle With OpenCV
Open CV is a library used by developers to help them write code that recognizes objects within images. By combining Open CV with other technologies, we can develop autonomous vehicles that drive themselves. Check out our article on how to turn an old smartphone into a self-driving vehicle.
5) Track Animals On Foot With RFID Tags
RFID tags are extremely useful for tracking animals. When placed inside an animal’s collar, these tags send signals back to a receiver whenever the animal moves. This information can then be stored and analyzed later. We recently wrote up a detailed post on how to track wild animals using RFID technology.
6) Turn Any Object Into An Internet Of Things Device
Internet of things devices are becoming increasingly commonplace. These gadgets connect everyday items via Wi-Fi networks. While this concept isn’t entirely new, its popularity continues to grow thanks to companies like Google and Amazon. Nowadays, almost everything can be connected to the internet including refrigerators, toothbrushes, lamps, thermostats, doorbell cameras, etc. Read More »
7) Build Robots From Scratch
Robots aren’t just something from science fiction movies anymore! It’s possible to build your very own robot right now. All it takes is some spare parts, a little bit of coding skill, and a few hours of work. The best part? Anyone can do it!
8) Control Lights And Appliances Via Bluetooth Low Energy Technology
Bluetooth low energy has been around since 2008 but only recently have manufacturers started making products based on BLE technology. Thanks to BLE, smartphones can control appliances ranging from lights to coffee makers.
9) Create Smart Lighting Systems With Arduino Boards
Arduino boards are small microcontrollers that let users program their electronics projects. They’re perfect for beginners because all you need is basic knowledge about electricity and computer hardware. You don’t necessarily need any previous experience either. Most people who use Arduino start as complete novices.
10) Monitor Your Home Security System Using Raspberry Pi
Raspberry pi is one of the cheapest computers ever made. Its main selling point is that it costs less than $30. If you want to monitor your home security system or automate certain tasks in your house, raspberry pi will make it easy.
11) Use Mobile Phones To Detect Radiation Levels
Mobile phones emit radiation when they transmit data over wireless connections. Scientists at MIT found that mobile phone radiation could cause cancer cells to mutate. However, there hasn’t been much research done yet regarding whether or not regular cellphones pose health risks. So far, studies show that cellphone radiation doesn’t seem to affect human DNA directly. But we still recommend keeping your distance from them.
12) Make A Robot That Can Walk Around Without Falling Over
The idea behind this project is pretty simple: attach wheels to a box with legs so that the whole thing rolls along without falling over. Once the box reaches its destination, the legs unfold and allow the device to stand upright again.
13) Hack Together DIY Solar Panels
Solar panels are great if you live somewhere sunny where you get consistent sunlight throughout the year. Unfortunately, solar power is expensive and requires maintenance. This hack lets anyone create their solar panel using nothing more than an old laptop battery and a sheet metal sign holder.
14) Turn Any TV Into A Wireless Speaker
This project turns any television into a speaker by connecting it to a smartphone app. When paired with Bluetooth speakers, the tv becomes a multiroom audio solution. This means you can listen to music anywhere in your house while watching Netflix on another room’s big screen.
15) Build An Electric Car Charger From Scratch
If you’ve always wanted to learn how to wire up electrical components yourself, then this tutorial might be just what you were looking for. By following these steps, you’ll end up building a car charger out of scratch. There’s really nothing too difficult about this project except maybe finding the correct size wires to connect everything together.
16) Convert Old Computers Into Tiny Homes
Old laptops and desktop PCs aren’t useless after all. These devices have lots of parts inside including hard drives, motherboards, RAM modules, CPUs, etc. All those internal pieces add up to quite a bit of space once you open up the case. Instead of throwing away perfectly good machines, why not turn them into tiny homes? The best part is that each machine only takes up around 1 cubic foot of space.
17) Create A Smartphone Controlled LED Light Fixture
LED light fixtures are convenient because they don’t need batteries as traditional bulbs do. They also last longer which makes them cheaper overall. In addition to being energy-efficient, LEDs use very little electricity compared to other lighting options such as incandescent lights. With this smart bulb fixture, you can control every aspect of the brightness, color temperature, and even dimming capabilities via your Android or iOS device.
18) Design Your Own Customized Gaming Controller
There are tons of different controllers available today but most of them come at a hefty price tag. If you’re willing to spend some time tinkering with electronics, though, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t build one yourself. You could make something similar to Nintendo’s classic NES controller or perhaps something unique. It would take some trial-and-error experimentation to figure out exactly what kind of buttons and sticks will work best for you. But when you finally find the right combination, you’ll feel like you got the real deal!
19) Make Your Own DIY Air Purifier Using Household Items
Air purifiers are pretty popular nowadays since they help remove allergens from indoor air. However, many people complain that they cost hundreds of dollars. So instead of spending money on buying one, why not try making your version? After reading through this guide, you should know enough to start creating your homemade air filter system. Just remember to keep it simple so you won’t get overwhelmed by the process.
20) Turn Any TV Into A Home Theater System
Home theater systems usually consist of several expensive speakers and an amplifier. While they sound great, they can easily break down if you drop them accidentally. Luckily, you can create your home theater setup using any old television set. Simply hook up a few HDMI cables between the various ports on the back of the TV and plug in a pair of headphones. Then just play movies or music directly onto the screen without having to worry about damaging anything else.
21) Build Intelligent Gas Leakage Detector Using Arduino And Raspberry Pi
This project involves two microcontrollers: Arduino Uno R3 and Raspberry Pi 2 Model B+. This project uses sensors to detect gas leakage. When gas leaks occur, the sensor detects it and sends data to the computer. Based on these readings, the program displays information regarding the location where the leak occurred.
22) Convert Old Laptop To An Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
Ultrasonics have been used for decades now to detect objects within range. This technology has become more affordable over the years thanks to advancements made in microprocessors. Nowadays, ultrasonic sensors are commonly found in everything from toys to security devices. One thing these gadgets lack however is the ability to distinguish between multiple targets. That’s where distance sensing comes in handy.
23) Create IoT Based Alarm Clock With Alexa Voice Assistant
Alexa voice assistant is very useful as we all know. The Amazon Echo speaker is also quite convenient because it allows users to control their smart homes via voice commands. In fact, Alexa was even named “Best Product Of 2016” by Time magazine. All things considered, it makes sense to use her skills to turn our alarm clocks into intelligent ones.
You don’t need to buy new hardware either; simply connect your existing clock with the Alexa skill kit.
24) Use Google Maps API To Find Local Restaurants Nearby
Google Maps API is a free service provided by Google which helps developers build apps based on its map services. If you want to make something cool, then you might be interested in knowing how to integrate Google Map APIs into your website/app. Here’s a tutorial on how to do that. You will learn how to fetch places near me, find nearby restaurants, hotels, petrol pumps, etc.
25) Make Your Own Smartphone Controlled LED Light Bulb
LED bulbs are pretty common nowadays but most people still prefer incandescent light bulbs due to their low cost. However, there are many advantages associated with LEDs such as long lifespan, energy efficiency, instant lighting, no flickering, dimmable lights,
So why not try making one yourself? It won’t take much time at all!
26) Turn Any Android Device Into A WiFi Router
WiFi routers are great tools when you’re looking to share an internet connection among several computers connected to the same network. But what happens when you run out of space on your router? Or maybe you’d like to save some money by sharing an Internet connection through another device instead of buying a second router? Well, here’s a solution for both problems.
27) Build A DIY Robot Using Lego Mindstorms NXT Kit
Legos are awesome little building blocks that can help kids develop problem-solving abilities while having fun. They’ve got so many different pieces that they can create almost anything imaginable. And if you think about it, robots aren’t too far off from Legos anyway. So this robot could actually be built using only legos.
28) Control Home Appliances Via Bluetooth Low Energy Technology
Bluetooth LE or BLE stands for Bluetooth Low Energy and it’s basically a wireless protocol used to communicate data between two devices without requiring any kind of physical contact. This technology has been around since 2004 but recently gained popularity thanks to Apple Watch Series 2. Nowadays, more than 50% of smartphones support BLE technology.
29) Create An Interactive Game With HTML5 Canvas
Canvas is a powerful tool that lets web designers draw graphics directly onto websites. There are tons of tutorials online showing how to get started with canvas. One thing I love about canvas is that it doesn’t require plugins. That means you can easily add interactivity to your game just by adding JavaScript code.
30) Convert Photos From DSLR Camera To iPhone 6S Plus
If you have a digital SLR camera, chances are you’ll end up taking lots of photos over the years. The good news is that these cameras usually come equipped with RAW format files. These files contain information regarding every single pixel in each photo taken. In other words, you don’t need Photoshop to edit them. All you need is a program called RawTherapee.
Conclusion
There’s an endless list of things you can do with IoT. You can build projects ranging from simple home automation systems to complex robotics. All these ideas will give you plenty of inspiration to start creating something new. Don’t just confine yourself to one idea though. Try combining multiple concepts to make something unique.