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Conceptually similar to Microsoft's embeddedSPARK 2010 event, which reached its conclusion at April's ESC (Embedded Systems Conference) Silicon Valley, the Summer Challenge turned to the Windows 7-based Windows Embedded Standard 7. (In contrast, embeddedSPARK 2010 employed the Windows CE-based Windows Embedded Compact, as will the returning embeddedSPARK 2011 Winter Challenge, according to Microsoft.)
Announced on Sept. 7, the three finalists in the Summer Challenge were:
According to postings by Shepherd on the embeddedSPARK forum and on his personal blog, the final presentation of his project was not delivered in front of a live audience -- as in past competitions -- but just in front of the judges. This change was apparently because both Bhatia and Willemsen were unable to attend the event in person.
#1: Rudie Shepherd's RoomBox
Rudie Shepherd says RoomBox is designed to be installed in the "chill capital of the home," a teenager's room, where it could replace multiple devices such as a CD player, television, Zune, and Xbox. The device is said to incorporate a video projector -- capable of rotating to paint images on multiple walls -- and a touch interface developed around the AForge motion framework, allowing the system to be controlled by touching appropriate areas on the walls.
The RoomBox sees the possible 270-degree display surface as a single canvas, placing user controls known as Roomlets anywhere within it. The following capabilities are provided, according to Shepherd:
#2: Serge Willemsen's HomePortal
Serge Willemsen says HomePortal is a device incorporating a 20-inch touchscreen monitor and a fingerprint reader, allowing multiple family members to log in. The portal will provide each user with customized web browsing, music and video playback, photo display, email, and calendaring, he adds.
HomePortal, which can access media stored on a Windows Home Server, includes a "democratic music player" that allows each user to contribute to a communal playlist, according to Willemsen. Initially focused on family use, the device could also be adapted to, for example, a group of builders on a worksite, he adds.
#3: Rajeev Bhatia's Wizbuddy
In the summary submitted to Microsoft, Bhatia wrote that Wizbuddy is a portable device designed to be used both at home and in a vehicle. Equipped with a touchscreen and a fingerprint sensor, the device is able to recognize its user and load appropriate settings, he adds.
According to Bhatia, Wizbuddy is designed to be used via voice command and speech recognition. The device features a GPS receiver, connections to an automobile's reverse camera and ultrasonic sensors, a media player, and -- oh yes -- Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr integration, its designer says.
Background
Officially opened on Apr. 27, the embeddedSPARK 2010 Summer Challenge ended at 5:00 pm PST (GMT -8) on Aug. 31, Microsoft says. The three rounds in the competition were as follows:
Contestants built their devices around a Advantech's AIMB-212 (below), a 6.7 x 6.7-inch Mini-ITX board featuring a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 processor. The board's single 200-pin DIMM slot accepts up to 2GB of memory, and there are 32-bit PCI, Mini PCI Express, and CompactFlash expansion slots, Advantech says.
As pictured above, the AIMB-212's "coastline" includes a VGA port, two Ethernet ports, four USB 2.0 ports, three serial ports (2 RS232, 1 RS232/422/485), and audio I/O (mic in, line out, and line in). Meanwhile, internal connectors add LVDS video, four additional USB 2.0 ports, three more serial ports (RS232), and two SATA ports, according to Advantech.
According to Microsoft, the AIMB-212 was dressed up with memory, a hard disk drive, a case, and a power supply, in order to provide contestants with a "ready to rock" device.
The embeddedSPARK 2011 Winter Challenge
Now that Microsoft has two embeddedSPARK contests per year, its original event -- which is again focusing on Windows CE-based technology, in the form of Windows Embedded Compact 7 -- is being rechristened the embeddedSPARK "Winter Challenge," the company says. A theme for the event does not appear to have been announced, nor is there word of the hardware to be used, but the contest will follow the same model as the past events.
According to Microsoft, contestants will have until 5:00 pm PST on Jan. 2, 2011 to submit a paper outlining their projects. The 75 individuals chosen to participate in round two will receive software and hardware in order to build working prototypes; they'll then need to submit four- to eight-page papers describing them along with a three-minute video, by March 27, 2011. Three finalists will then present at ESC Silicon Valley, set for May 2-5, 2011.
Further information
Further information about the Wizbuddy, RoomBox, and HomePortal projects may be found on Microsoft's website, here, here, and here, respectively. Rudie Shepherd's blog entry describing the embeddedSPARK 2010 Summer Challenge judging may be found here.
Information about the embeddedSPARK 2011 Winter Challenge should appear soon on Microsoft's website, here. (At the time of writing, the pages were still in the process of being revised to reflect the new dates and other information.)
