SparkFun announces $80 Electric Sheep development board for Android accessories

Nov 16th 2011
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SparkFun announces Electric Sheep development board for Android accessories

Seeking a substitute for the Google-approved Android Development Kit ? You then now have another fairly inexpensive approach to consider courtesy of SparkFun . It’s officially announced its new Electric Sheep development board, which costs just $80 and may will let you build your personal Android accessories using the Open Accessory protocol. Meaning it and any accessories built with this will work just fine together with your Nexus One, although there’s in fact no guarantees it’ll work with, say, a future Nexus-6 model — we hear those may well be slightly unpredictable. Press release is after the break, and you’ll find some additional specifics and an order button on the source link below.

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SPARKFUN ELECTRONICS ANNOUNCES NEW DEVELOPMENT HARDWARE FOR ANDROID

Electric Sheep Gives Customers USB Access to their Android-based Devices to Develop Their very own Accessories and Applications

BOULDER, Colo. Nov. 16, 2011 – SparkFun Electronics ( HYPERLINK “http://www.sparkfun.com/”www.sparkfun.com), a provider of parts knowledge and fervour for electronics creation, today proudly announced a brand new product designed to assist inventors create new custom Android accessories.

The hot product, aptly named the electrical Sheep, is designed to milk the Android system’s open accessory protocol. By communicating via USB, Electric Sheep gives users complete dynamic access to the phone’s systems and enables the straightforward creation of custom applications and accessories including controls for an autonomous vehicle or coupling your phone with a microcontroller which includes an Arduino. These boards aren’t restricted to simply Android phones, but can be utilized on any platform with the Android operating system and a USB port.

“The electrical Sheep is a product we’re really excited to announce,” said SparkFun Director of selling AnnDrea Boe. “This product represents months of prototyping and design by the SparkFun engineers and could give its users free reign to create accessories for the Android system.”

At the technical side, the electrical Sheep is predicated at the ATMega2560 microcontroller and bootloader and lines a USB-host connector on-board for speedy connection to Android devices. The board permits the creation of accessories for Android using the Arduino IDEA and HandBag and is Arduino-shield compatible. Even though you do not have an Android device, the electrical Sheep can double as a development platform with each of the functionality of the host microcontroller and a USB shield. The electrical Sheep is priced at $79.95 per unit and is now available on SparkFun’s website ( HYPERLINK “http://www.sparkfun.com” www.sparkfun.com).

About SparkFun Electronics
Founded in 2003, SparkFun shares its passion for electronics by providing parts, knowledge, and innovation for those trying to explore the arena of embedded electronics. It helps anyone discover their inner inventor and enables individuals to create their very own electronics projects. SparkFun currently offers greater than 1,800 products, starting from simple components, like capacitors and resistors to GPS units and Bluetooth modules. The corporate employs 130 people and is predicated in Boulder, Colorado.

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