Entrepreneurs

User avatar
jonathan
Respected Member
Posts: 377
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:07 pm
Contact:

Entrepreneurs

Post by jonathan »

The XMOS technology enables a wide range of new businesses and products, from independent open source dev-kits to consumer electronic products and toys. This is an open forum for discussion; if you are more comfortable talking privately, feel free to get in touch!
The Entrepreneurs Group is a place where:
1. Those interested in entrepreneurial ideas can discuss them and receive feedback

2. You can network with people who might be able to help out

3. You can get inspired by others' ideas
Read


Image
User avatar
jonathan
Respected Member
Posts: 377
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:07 pm
Contact:

Post by jonathan »

As I have reached 512 points, I win an XK-1.

However, I will be donating this to the coolest business idea that gets posted here, as a group post, within the next week. My judgment is final! :-)
Image
User avatar
otitov
XCore Addict
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by otitov »

Here goes my entry - yes, I want to win an XK-1!!!

I expect that it would be possible to implement PID controller (for example temperature PID controller) on just 1 XK-1!!!

P.S. I also would like more XK-1's, audio kits, etc..., so, please, run more contests!
User avatar
otitov
XCore Addict
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by otitov »

I need to protect my liver from time to time, so here goes non-beer related idea: I would like to link XK-1 to Xbee mesh networked module and to Kent's ChLCD display for low power hi-tec meshed wireless display.
User avatar
otitov
XCore Addict
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by otitov »

Every day - an idea! Creativity moves the world!

And todays ideas is... QRCode display which will use 1 XK-1 and 2 LED Tiles (I assume they are compatible). 2 tiles requiered to make a square display, its is a must for QRCode.
User avatar
johanar
Active Member
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:21 am
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Post by johanar »

I'm going to suggest an upstart idea, that I've been hoping for a while that someone would make :)

Product brief: Basically a cellphone type camera mounted on one side of a pcb with an XS1-L1 on the other, preprogrammed with a software suite for image processing and analysis.


Physical properties and connections: My idea was that this has to be small as possible (because I'd use it for robotics :)) so everything on the board is kept to a minimum. If possible, the XSYS ports would be made smaller and one would have to use an adapter cable to connect with XK-1 dev boards (and in the future new XMOS boards could use this smaller contact). The PCB should have a ground plane behind the camera btw, as this increases image quality with some models.


(wanted) features:
- Decent camera (about 5 Mpix, so that the image can be downsampled for noise reduction)
- Image processing at lower resolution (perhaps 320*256)
- Video stream out, for example to a PC for debugging/development, at the same time as the image processing is active.
- High res jpeg snapshots (though it's ok if the image processing stops for 2 seconds while doing this).
- Dead easy to integrate with other XMOS products and other microcontroller systems.
- Powerful reprogrammability for advanced users.


PC software:
This might be a little too much to wish for though :) A development environment for the camera, that runs on Linux, Mac and Windows, where you can connect and tune different filters/algorithms that effects the video stream. You'd get a live feed from the camera if it's connected and you should be able to easily set up and tweak object/face recognition and other abilities even if you don't know much programming (like connecting boxes in Simulink, except better UI :)).


Usage examples: Robotics (of course) everything from small hobby robots, through university research projects to industrial AGV:s. One (or two, for stereoscopic vision) of these boards could be connected to another XK-1 to add vision and interaction to just about any project. It could be used in intelligent security and surveillance systems or perhaps an art installation.


Possibilities: Looking at other's projects involving XMOS and cameras, it seems to be possible to connect certain cameras pretty much directly to the microcontroller so the board design could be pretty simple. Hopefully a lot of software could be ported from OpenCV and similar projects, to reduce development costs. Cameras are pretty cheap, especially if you buy them in bulk, so the whole project could end up in a similar price range as a plain XK-1 ($69 without XTAG-2) depending on the profit margins on the XK-1 of course. This can be compared to the CMUCam3 which costs $239 and has very low resolution. It could of course be sold ridiculously expensive to bigger companies if you bundle "support" with it :)


Market: Being cheap, and slightly targeted towards hobbyists, I don't think single board sales would generate a huge profit. But being very easy to integrate into systems it could strengthen the XMOS brand name, and hopefully generate sales leads for other products. And there's of course always a chance that some toy company (or security etc) wants to use it in their products and orders 1000's of them.
User avatar
jonathan
Respected Member
Posts: 377
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:07 pm
Contact:

Post by jonathan »

What about a Bug Labs module? I don't know much about this but it was suggested by someone on Twitter. Is anyone interested in building one/know enough to do it? I think some of the Bug Labs stuff could benefit from having XMOS accelerators/modules - to the point where ultimately most of the I/O modules could become XMOS processor centric.
Image
User avatar
otitov
XCore Addict
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by otitov »

Next idea: protocol controller to connect Classic Controller for Wii to XBee module to make remote controller for robotics applications.
User avatar
otitov
XCore Addict
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by otitov »

Bring the power of XK-1 to Arduino world! The XK-1 connected to Arduino via Xlink.
User avatar
otitov
XCore Addict
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by otitov »

Tottaly amuzed by "Prototype: Openbench Logic Sniffer logic analyzer" http://dangerousprototypes.com/2010/02/ ... -sniffer-l...

I would like to see XMOS powered logic analyzer.

Everything just on 1 chip.
Post Reply