Available for just a few dollars, the ESP32 modules are a wonder of modern design. Not only do they feature both Bluetooth and WiFi communications built-in, they have a monster under the hood — a dual-core processor that would put your sweet early 90s desktop system to shame. What more could you want?
It’s an interesting question, because cool as it is, without some sort of input or output to the real world, what are they actually good for?[1] Not a problem, you might say, “I can just wire up a PIR sensor, accelerometer, or other doodad to make my gadget sense and do XYZ.” And right you would be, but what if these sensors were entirely modular, sliding into a dev board the way you might change an SD card?
This is exactly the concept behind the IoT Node ESP32 dev board from Turta. The device features all of the IO pins you’d expect from an ESP32 dev board, but also features an open-standard modular slot on top where you can slide in a variety of sensor modules, a sound/button module, and even a solid-state relay.
I had the pleasure of meeting these new Tindie sellers at WMFNY2018, and look forward to interviewing them about their business in the future!
[1] Feel free to argue this point @Tindie or @JeremySCook on Twitter.
