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Introduction

This tutorial demonstrates how you can create two connected "things" using the AVR-IoT Cellular Mini board, that can "talk" to each other. The demo is titled "Emoji Cube" - the IoT nodes are designed to convey emotions or emojis using basic components like LEDs and buttons. If you'd like to stay connected with someone on the other side of the planet or know how your little one is doing at school, get started right away and make these pair of emoji cubes! The cubes are portable and you can modify the design to carry it around like a keychain among many other design possibilities. The physical design is identical for both cubes and there are only minor differences in the code, which makes it easy to create.

The emoji cube has three circular projections on one of it's faces - a waving hand (say "Hi"), a heart (share some love) and a koala bear (send a hug). These have been 3D printed using transparent PLA and are attached to LEDs that can light up the emoji when the cube receives the corresponding message from it's pair.
Another face of the cube has three buttons that can send a specific emoji to its pair. Hence the paired cubes can both send and display emojis. Also note, the choice of three emojis are for demonstration purposes and the design can be scaled to include more emojis and buttons.

Project Resources​

To create a pair of emoji cubes, the following components/resources were used :

  • AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Board (x2)
  • Truphone SIM card (x2)
  • Antenna (x2)
  • USB C - USB A cables (x2)
  • LEDs 3mm (any colour) (x6)
  • Resistors - 100 ohms (x6)
  • Adafruit colorful round tactile button switch (x6)
  • Perfboard (DOT-PCB) (x2)
  • White 3D printing filament (PLA)
  • Transparent 3D printing filament (PLA)
  • A 3D printer
  • Soldering station
  • Adhesive tape/ Hot glue gun

Learn how to build and wire the emoji cubes in the next section.