IoT Basics
How everyday things learn to sense, think and talk
Hello, inventor!
This little book shows you how everyday things, like lamps, plant pots and doorbells, can become smart. By the end, you will know how to build your own smart gadget.
What is IoT?
IoT stands for Internet of Things. It means ordinary things that can sense the world, make a decision, do something, and share what happened over the internet.
Electricity in five minutes
Electricity is the energy that powers every gadget. Think of it like water flowing through pipes.
Meet the brains
Every smart device needs a brain. In IoT, the brain is a small board with a chip called a microcontroller. It runs one program, over and over, all day long.
Sensors: the device's senses
A sensor notices something in the real world and turns it into an electrical signal the brain can read. Here is how sensors match your own senses.
Actuators: the device's hands and voice
An actuator is the part that does something after the brain decides. Sensors listen; actuators act.
How things talk
Smart things need to send messages: to the brain, to each other and to your phone. Some use wires, and some talk through the air with invisible radio waves.
Code: telling the brain what to do
A board does nothing until you give it a program: a list of instructions written in a coding language. You write it on a computer in the free Arduino IDE app, then send it to the board through the USB cable.
The cloud and apps
The cloud is simply computers somewhere else on the internet that store your data and pass on messages. It lets you check on your gadget from anywhere in the world.
Stay safe
Great inventors are safe inventors. Follow these rules every time you build.
Your first five projects
Start with project 1 and work your way up. Each one follows the same pattern: sense → think → act, and the last one adds share.
Fun words, quiz and what's next
" That question is how every inventor starts.