About this project
CoAction Hero: 32-bit Open-Source ARM Cortex-M3 Board
$12,110
217
CoAction Hero: Feature-Rich, Easy-to-Use, Open Source
CoAction Hero is an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller board with a built-in operating system (CoActionOS) delivering unprecedented power and ease-of-use to your electronics projects. It includes many of the features you find on Raspberry Pi but with the ease-of-use associated with Arduino.
Seamless OS Experience
Don’t let the OS scare you! The OS is pre-installed allowing you to create and install your applications without ever having to configure, modify, or install the OS. If you’ve never used an OS on a project like this, don’t worry. Creating applications is much like writing simple C/C++ programs on a normal computer. Even with minimal knowledge of programming, you will be creating amazing projects in no time.
In addition to the information here, you can find the software documentation, source code download, bug reporting, and tutorials on the CoActionOS website.
Kickstarter Objective
The funds raised from this Kickstarter project will allow us to build the first production run of the CoAction Hero.
CoActionOS Ecosystem
CoActionOS is a complete hardware/firmware/software toolkit designed to deliver a powerful, easy-to-use development platform for both Windows and Mac OSX (iOS and Android coming soon). The hardware includes the CoAction Hero microcontroller board as well as stackable bluetooth and LCD device boards. The firmware is an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) with easy-to-use hardware abstraction libraries. The software includes CoActionOS Link as well as an SDK with sample applications to enable you to easily create your own desktop applications that communicate with your embedded project over a fast virtual serial port USB connection.
Hardware
The CoAction Hero features a powerful ARM Cortex-M3 processor (NXP's LPC1759) running at up to 120MHz, a 1MB serial flash chip (which is used as a filesystem in CoActionOS), an expansion port, and micro USB connector.
The stackable device boards connect to the expansion port to provide additional functionality. Two device boards (bluetooth and LCD) are launching as part of this Kickstarter campaign alongside the CoAction Hero with more coming soon.
Firmware
RTOS
CoActionOS is an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) that fully integrates with the CoAction Hero microcontroller board. The firmware uses the USB micro-connector to provide a driver-free virtual serial port for both Windows and Mac. It also includes an easy-to-use filesystem utilizing the 1MB flash chip.
Easy Hardware Access
We provide a C/C++ library that makes using hardware peripherals (GPIO, ADC, SPI, UART, etc) and multi-tasking as simple as can be. No need to read about registers in the datasheet. Everything is taken care of by CoActionOS.
Multi-tasking
When it comes to multi-tasking, CoActionOS is no ordinary RTOS. Applications are compiled and installed separately from the OS. Each application runs as a memory-protected pseudo-process capable of running multiple threads much like on the Raspberry Pi. This is accomplished not with an MMU but by taking advantage of the advanced hardware features of the ARM Cortex-M3 architecture. This unique feature makes using a microcontroller RTOS seamless. In fact, the "Hello World" program is exactly the same as a desktop application.
Software
Firmware Development Kit
We provide a free compiler (GCC) with CoActionOS. We distribute ready-to-use binary packages for Windows and Mac OS X. We recommend and provide support for compiling programs using Eclipse. However, you can use any build system or development environment that you like.
User Interface
CoActionOS not only integrates with the hardware, but it also connects seamlessly to a desktop computer (Mac and Windows fully supported, mobile support coming soon). Our user interface software (CoActionOS-Link) allows you to browse the embedded filesystem, send/receive text in a terminal, install programs, re-flash the kernel, and monitor running processes.
Create-Your-Own SDK
Our Qt based SDK allows you to build your own interface. The SDK features easy-to-use Qt form classes to connect to CoActionOS, browse the filesystem, and access hardware (stdio, UART, SPI, ADC, etc). The SDK incorporates Qt stylesheets to create an elegant, cross platform look-and-feel inspired by Twitter Bootstrap and integrated with Font Awesome More.
Support for iOS and Android Coming Soon!
The SDK is currently based on Qt 4.8. It will be ported over to Qt 5.x, once Qt adds support for iOS and Android (which is planned for later this year).
Example Projects
1.8" LCD
Here the CoAction Hero loaded a bitmap (BMP) from the built-in filesystem and displayed it on a 1.8" color LCD.
DC Motor Control with PWM and PID
The following video shows the CoAction Hero controlling the speed of a DC motor. The POT sets the speed using an ADC pin and the motor is controlled using a PID loop with PWM output (read more here).
In-Circuit Serial Programmer
CoActionOS ISP is an in-circuit serial programming application that allows you to program other NXP LPC microcontrollers using the CoAction Hero. This includes using a second CoAction Hero to re-flash the CoActionOS bootloader or load a custom flash image.
High Performance LED Strip
This video shows the CoAction Hero driving a SPI based LED strip. More information on this example is available here.
Production Plan
Once funding is successful, we will produce the first articles with our manufacturing partner in Asia. We do not anticipate making any changes to the current prototype so there shouldn't be any surprises with the first article. Once the campaign ends, full production will begin. It will take approximately 6 weeks to receive the boards. We will pre-install CoActionOS on each board and run a production test to ensure all components are correctly assembled and working. From there, the boards will ship to you at the beginning of July!
Risks and challenges
There are some risks in this project, but we feel they are manageable. We have already done a small run of boards, and they work great. If demand is really high, we might encounter sourcing issues which can delay delivery. We will keep you posted on any developments.
The other challenge is software based. The software currently works great. However, as the software gets deployed to more and more people, little bugs will surface. We included the Beta tester reward in hopes that most issues will be fixed by the time the full production order is complete.
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Funding period
- (30 days)