The Sensorian Shield is a plug-in module that extends your Raspberry Pi and is designed to help you turn your ideas into realty…without the use of a breadboard for prototyping.
It’s compatible with all versions of the Raspberry Pi, and comes with a mini-USB port for serial logging, ambient light sensor, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, barometer, altimeter and temperature sensors, three capacitive touch buttons, an on-board LED, 2Mb non-volatile flash memory, and a real-time clock. It’ll let you rapidly prototype your Internet of Things projects, using high-level programming languages like Python and C. Plus, the Sensorian Library uses an open API, eliminating the low-level hassles needed by other shields. More details below!
The Sensorian Shield is packed with sensors. It can detect ambient light, temperature, pressure, altitude, motion, magnetic fields, capacitive touch, and keep track of time with a battery backed-up real time clock. See all of these sensors in action through our beautifully designed, simple dashboard. Connect, through code, with the physical world and develop innovative applications using the Sensorian Shield. Your dashboard is responsive, meaning it’ll look incredible on any screen, so go ahead and track your surroundings while on the go!
The Sensorian Shield can be programmed with the high-level programming languages Python and C. When coupled with high level frameworks like Flask and NodeJs, the Sensorian API allows the user to leverage the whole power of embedded Linux to develop creative applications.
The Sensorian Shield can be coupled with an ultra-portable TFT LCD screen module to allow stand-alone computing on your Raspberry Pi. Gone are the days when your Pi needed to be connected to clumsy, clunky screens.
The Sensorian Shield makes development and prototyping on the Raspberry Pi easier and more exciting. Your sensor-packed Shield can now harness data from the physical world and help you explore and invent creative, sensitive applications. Here are just a handful of project ideas to get you started:
Many of these projects can be done without any additional electronic hardware. We’re publishing a project handbook too!
The Sensorian Shield is compatible with all Raspberry Pi models. Once your device arrives, you can get to hacking and developing right away! Simply plug in the shield on top of the Raspberry Pi’s 26 pin header (or the 40 pin header for Model B+). The 1.8 inch TFT screen can then be plugged on top. The Sensorian Shield comes packed with sensors for your projects:
Ambient light sensor: The ambient light sensor can measure surrounding light. The sensor is also equipped with interrupt capabilities to alert you when the ambient light falls below a certain level.
Barometer/Altimeter sensor: The barometer sensor will measure pressure, altitude and temperature.
Accelerometer/Magnetometer: The accelerometer/magnetometer chip detects landscape or portrait mode and can be used to detect simple gestures such as double tap or single tap.
Capacitive Touch: The capacitive touch controller has three capacitive touch buttons with configurable sensitivity. Perfect for remote controls and basic touch-sensitive triggers!
Real-time Clock: The real-time clock allows tracking time in case of power failure. Two separate alarms are provided with independent configuration. Note: The Sensorian Shield requires a CR2032 battery to power its real time capabilities. The shield will work perfectly well without it, but due to shipping issues with batteries, the battery must be bought separately, and it is easily found in stores.
1.8 inch TFT display: You Raspberry Pi becomes self-contained. Expose all the sensor data on the display or simply use the display as a monitor.
2Mb Non-volatile Flash Memory: Store all sensor data in non-volatile memory. This way you can easily port the sensor history to any Raspberry Pi.
Our designs have been thoroughly tested and we’re ready to start shipping! We need your help to scale up the production of the Sensorian Shield so that we can help make sensor-driven production and development more affordable, portable and simple for everyone.
We want to help you create a better connected world. We love the Internet of Things, and can’t wait to see the incredible projects that you’ll develop with your Sensorian Shield.
Qusay Mahmoud, Ph.D., is a licensed professional engineer in the province of Ontario, Canada. He is passionate about the intersection of hardware and software – the web of things. The Sensorian shield is designed to allow new developers merge the power of cloud computing with sensor hardware.
Dhimiter Qendri is an embedded systems designer who believes that technology should be made simple to allow people focus on expressing their creativity. The Sensorian Shield is such an example.
Dropcap is a design and development agency based in Toronto, Canada that is dedicated to improving the web’s user experience and interface through mobile-ready design, beautiful minimalism, and quality production. The team builds web and branding solutions for amateur bloggers, to enterprise-level corporations. They helped us develop this campaign, producing our video, website and guided us through the process.
We have developed fully functional prototypes and we’re ready to start mass production! However, like any Kickstarter project, there are both production and logistics risks that need to be addressed. We want to make sure that you at the forefront of information pertaining to any risks we may face in the next few months and beyond.
There are obvious risks with mass production of electronic devices. Fortunately, we will test every single Sensorian Shield before it is shipped; making sure that they are able to tackle all of your projects.
Secondly, there are risks with shipping, such as delivery time, lost and damaged packages, and shipping costs. For this, we have developed safe, compact and lightweight packaging for each individual shield, and will be shipping as soon as our campaign ends.
We value your support, and we simply can’t wait to get your hands on our products. We will be completely transparent with our methods, and always be punctual with your questions.