Making Android Accessories with IOIO

Chapter 1. Getting Started with IOIO

IOIO (pronounced YoYo) is an input/output board for Android phones and tablets. It allows you to attach electronic devices to your Android phone using the USB connection. If you have a IOIO with the latest firmware, you can also communicate over Bluetooth if you attach a Bluetooth adapter to the IOIO.

In this chapter we will look at how to set up your computer and Android phone to use the IOIO and use the sample application that comes with the IOIO software to turn the “status” LED on and off for your phone.

What is IOIO?

IOIO (Figure 1-1) is a product produced and sold by SparkFun (among others). It contains a PIC microcontroller and USB interface and a few other glue components to regulate the supply voltage etc. The whole project, both hardware and software is open source.

Figure 1-1. An IOIO board

To make use of an IOIO, you will need:

• An Android phone with USB lead

• A Windows, Mac, or Linux computer

• A power supply 5-15V DC offering at least 500mA

Since the IOIO comes without any sockets soldered to its connectors, we will attach some to it and make a power lead for it. To do this, you will also need the parts listed in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1. Parts bin

Quantity	Description	SparkFun SKU	Farnell code	Newark code
1	IOIO board	DEV-10748
2	SIL Header socket strip	PRT-00115	1126603	52K3454
1	2.1mm Power socket	PRT-00119	1217038	97K6459
2	single header pins	PRT-00116	1097954	93K5128 ...