When individual developers move from traditional prototype development based on bare board development into products that can be used in real scenarios, they often need to invest a lot of time, energy and money in the process. However, what if there was a modular development kit that not only had a simple appearance and excellent performance, but was also easy to use and can run stably for a long time? Such a development kit will undoubtedly greatly aid developers quickly verify concepts and significantly accelerate the process from concept through development and into the end product development cycle.
In this episode, I would like to introduce the modular IoT development platform of M5Stack. M5Stack’s products adhere to the modular concept. Its core modules adopt a standard size of 5x5cm and can be combined with various functional components through stacking and splicing to offer rich product performance. M5Stack provides a wide variety of feature-rich hardware modules and an easy-to-use graphical software platform for innovators in smart retail, smart industry, smart buildings, IoT applications, engineering measurement, mechanical control, STEM education and other fields. In addition, M5Stack can also provide customized services to make the entire development experience faster, more reliable and more efficient.
M5Stack offers a variety of product series, including the Stack Core series, STICK series, ATOM series, and more.
Stack Core Series: With a 5x5cm stackable modular design, these modules can be combined at will to form a complete and solid whole. They can help users quickly verify product concepts and develop. From embedded controllers, communication modules to sensors, the Stack Core series modules have multiple types of functions embedded. These products have the characteristics of high performance, high reliability and high scalability, and can be deployed and connected to the cloud in a simple and efficient manner. The types cover various mainstream IoT development SBCs (single-board computers), including esp32-S3 development boards, Arduino esp32 kits, TinyML devices, etc.
Detailed product specifications: K135, K130, K132, K127 K127-US, K128, K128-SE, K010, K001-V27
STICK series: Tiny IoT development board with plug-in expansion design and high cost-effectiveness, suitable for various peripheral accessories and IoT applications.
Detailed product specifications: K016-P2, K016-H, K016-C
ATOM series: Extremely mini ESP32 main controller with high expandability, suitable for IoT edge nodes, smart homes and industrial control.
Detailed product specifications: K125, C124, C123, K117, C008-C, C008-B, C008
In addition to enhancing the hardware ecosystem, the supporting software system is also an important part in development. Using the M5Stack software platform UIFlow, you can easily and quickly build projects. UIFlow is a graphical programming IDE that everyone can easily get started with. The simple drag-and-drop graphical programming method is suitable for all types of developers. It also supports wireless and wired program communication, and can run with a click without repeated compilation. Currently UIFlow supports more than 100 hardware devices, including ESP32-based controllers, functional modular components and various sensors. In addition, it can be seamlessly compatible with the M5Stack series of products, providing a complete ecosystem for IoT development. UIFlow’s project-oriented development environment can not only perform rapid prototyping of ideas, but also accelerate the development process from concept to final product. In addition, UIFlow provides a wealth of network development components, supports common network communication methods such as MQTT, HTTP, Socket UDP, and integrates solutions for quickly establishing connections with various cloud platforms (such as Azure, AWS, Tencent Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, etc.).
(Image source: M5Stack Technology Co., Ltd)
M5Stack has a complete product ecosystem, with stackable design modules and more than 200 sensors, actuators, displays, cameras and other modules that can be easily combined with the core controller. Compared to the cumbersome and repetitive circuit board design process in traditional development, it has a qualitative improvement in efficiency and realizes a plug-and-play expansion mode.
Detailed product specifications:
- ENV IV Unit with Temperature Humidity Air Pressure Sensor (SHT40+BMP280) U001-D,
- PIR Motion Sensor (AS312) U004,
- Time-of-Flight Distance Ranging Sensor Unit (VL53L0X) U010,
- Mini GPS/BDS Unit (AT6558) U032,
- CardKB Mini Keyboard Programmable Unit V1.1 (MEGA8A) U035-B,
- SIM7080G CAT-M/NB-IoT Unit U128,
- 4-Channel Encoder Motor Driver Module (STM32F030) M138,
- Programmable Power Supply Module M137,
- ESP32 PSRAM Timer Camera X (OV3660) U082-X,
- PLC Proto Industrial Board Module K011-B-V11