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  • Author Author: Fred27
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Sensing the World: How's your project going?

With less than 2 weeks to go there doesn't seem to be many projects for Sensing the World. I was wondering if this is just because everyone's putting the final polish on theirs or if it's just not been that popular. So, how is your progress?

 

I notice that Hackster.io have put back their Secure Everything deadline from 27th October to 30th November. It is currently sitting at 19 entries. I wouldn't be surprised if Element14 follow suit as the contests seem linked. I completely understand why, but I must admit that after putting in a lot of work to get it ready in time it's a bit frustrating. Don't forget it was originally 30th September.

 

I'm sure people have an opinion on why the contests haven't really worked out as expected. Amazing prizes and free boards to get you started  - that sounds like a winner, doesn't it?

  • I have a whole litany of excuses:

    I had so many problems getting stably connected, I didn't want to mess with the load until the connection exercise ended, but the the connection period keeps getting extended, so it delayed any real start to programming.

    Now it has been so long since I worked everything out, I have forgotten exactly what I have installed. The periods between working on it are so large, I have to go through a fairly big re-learning, re-acquainting period every time I dive into it. It still feels dangerous to me to just try stuff out, like I could brick its connection ability if I make the wrong move.

    I had an OLED display that I thought was the one used in the demos, but it was not correct (of course this wasn't discovered until after the connection period of about 45 days) So I ordered the correct part (I think) but it has not arrived yet.

    I also procured a larger display and some sensors, but wanted to get the known parts working and see how it was done before graduating to custom hardware and software.

    I have been working on some blogs and shooting some videos, but it is a long way from being a successful project.

    My enthusiasm has been reduced by the long extensions to the phases - it feels like a lot of extra work to stay focused this long and it also means a much smaller chance of reward, as more contestants get involved.

    I am still plugging away at it and I expect to publish some sort of blogs on progress, but at this point I am not optimistic that they will be called a successful project. It is likely to be one of those projects where you spend most of the effort on learning, but have relatively few concrete results to show for it.

  • I found it difficult to get started and it does feel “beta”.   It became apparent I would need to put significant effort into learning to use it and I could not justify the the time for the project I had in mind.  This might have been different if the application was commercial and many units were to be deployed.

  • I choose not to participate in this challenge.  I get more than enough problems with Microsoft on a daily basis (Winodws PC) that I decided I did not need any more problems.  That, and I am already finding it difficult to get any projects complete given an already full plate.

  • My IoT Hub was suspended two weeks ago, so backup plan. The problem is that I had not thought about a Plan B. Now, with the extension of time, I will try again.

  • As of me, I plan to apply, but I've been a bit short on time as the Project14 has taken me quite a bit of time.

  • For me, the hurdle is coding in C.  I've got the hardware aspect complete but this ain't an Arduino.  For every error I try to correct, I create 15 more.  I'm actually glad that the project has been extended.  Maybe I'll have a C epiphany.

  • in reply to glennvanderveer

    I knew that not everyone got a kit right away, but I didn't realise they were still being sent out.

  • I voted for the extension, because it has been extended.  Still, I will be a last minute entry...

    OCTOBER 2019 UPDATE: Phase 1 will now close November 30th, 2019, rather than October 27th, 2019. This is to accommodate those countries who were not until recently eligible for free kits, and those whose kits are ordered but still having the order filled.

     

     

  • As tempting as it was, I didn't participate to the Azure Sphere Sensing the World challenge and didn't apply to get the device, as I knew I wouldn't have had enough time to invest in learning and experiment with the device to be able to put together something worth writing about. David's comments tell me probably I have made the right choice.

     

    Considering the number of kits made available, I hope more people will post their projects, even if they haven't achieved the result they were aiming for, because I find reading about the journey just as interesting (if not more) as the end result of the project.

     

    Fabio

  • In my opinion there are a few reasons why people haven't got to grips with developing for Azure Sphere as well as expected.

    1. The nature of the device is to make it easy to remotely monitor and securely deploy code to lots of devices in production. The very things that make it great for production make it harder to get started quickly for development - e.g. claiming the device and linking it to an Azure tenant.
    2. Azure is great. It's really well documented. However, it's huge and there's a lot to get your head around.
    3. Some of Azure Sphere still feel very beta. The lack of full functionality and a proper datasheet can make things a bit difficult. People like and are doing an amazing job filling in the gaps, but there are gaps to be filled.

     

    Anyway, that's my opinion. I'd love to hear yours.