17 smart crowdfunding campaigns you may want to back this week

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Every Friday, we’re taking a look at some of the smartest, most innovative projects that have caught our attention on Kickstarter and Indiegogo over the last seven days. 

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MetaWear Coin

This low-power IoT platform is comprised of a coin-sized Bluetooth dev board, sensors and an SDK, enabling you to develop your own wearable products with ease. MbientLab is currently seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter.

Pocket NC

This five-axis desktop CNC mill would be a welcomed addition to any Maker’s workspace. Pocket NC is currently seeking $70,000 on Kickstarter.

Relio

This USB light puts high-quality, sun-like color rendering right in the palm of your hand. Relio is currently seeking $55,578 on Kickstarter.

OKO

This smart frame allows you to share all of your media content with friends and family via an accompanying app. CIMNE TIC is currently seeking $70,000 on Kickstarter.

3DSimo Mini

This multi-functional pen not only 3D prints objects in thin air, but solders, burns and cuts as well. 3DSimo is currently seeking $70,000 on Kickstarter.

T.brush

This smart and stylish toothbrush is looking to reinvent oral hygiene. T.brush is currently seeking $274,661 on Kickstarter.

Conrod

This dev board connects directly into your vehicle’s control network and allows you to reprogram its features to your liking. Conrod is currently seeking $77,786 on Kickstarter.

QLIPP

This sensor attaches to a tennis racquet to measure every aspect of a player’s game, analyzing strokes, the spin and speed of the ball, as well the accuracy of each shot. QLIPP is currently seeking $30,000 on Indiegogo.

Silk by Saffron

This smart LED bulb automatically adjusts its color temperature so you get light tailored to your circadian rhythm. Saffron is currently seeking $100,000 on Kickstarter.

Gesto

This open source kit lets you to transform any part of your body into a controller by analyzing muscle and motion patterns. Gesto is currently seeking $75,000 on CrowdSupply.

Luzi Smart Lamp

This intelligent lamp uses therapeutic light, personalized sound and voice commands to help you fall asleep faster and wake up more refreshed. Luzi is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.

Kiwi 3

This plug-and-play dongle links to your car’s onboard diagnostic port, retrieves info and then wirelessly transmits it to your mobile or wearable device. PLX Devices is currently seeking $25,000 on Kickstarter.

Pura

This Bluetooth-enabled water fountain for cats not only encourages better drinking habits, but helps you keep tabs on your kitten’s H2O intake right from your smartphone. Pura is currently seeking $100,000 on Indiegogo.

Xkey Air

This wireless keyboard lets you play music anywhere from any mobile device. The CME team is currently seeking $10,000 on Indiegogo.

Vufine

This hands-free, high-definition wearable display attaches to a wide variety of glasses via a magnetic docking station, giving you the ability to interface with any application. Vufine is currently seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter.

Plug ’N’ IoT

This unit makes creating an IoT gadget as easy as plugging in sensor, dragging and dropping the necessary library and uploading the code to the board. Avionics Control Systems is currently seeking $39,733 on Kickstarter.

Mikme

This portable recorder can capture high-quality 24-bit/96 kHz audio with the press of a button and then stream recordings over Bluetooth. Mikme is currently seeking $25,000 on Indiegogo.

Did you happen to miss last week’s notable campaigns? If so, you can check them out here. Also, if your project is powered by Atmel MCUs and you’ve been featured on our blog, be sure to download the respective badges here for use in your ongoing marketing efforts. 

Conrod is a dev board for the automotive world

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Conrod is the world’s first fully-programmable, connected app platform for your car.

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Ideal for auto enthusiasts looking to personalize their ride, Conrod is a small device that plugs into the CAN bus of a VW brand car and lets users customize its features. More than just a data logger or diagnostic tool, the dev board provides developers with the ability to create their own apps and run them right in the vehicle. In other words, the days of having to write programs on a smartphone and then connect them via a dongle are over!

Conrod interfaces with any VW car — including Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley — through its CAN bus, enabling a user to decode and manipulate messages to change the way that the vehicle operates. The fully-programmable unit can function as a standalone device, or can be paired with a 3G SIM to take advantage of its on-board cellular modem for Internet connectivity. For situations where 3G may not be an option, Conrod can sync to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth 4.0 as well.

The standard Conrod installation is designed to remain out of sight, with all of the configurations performed on a mobile device. To really let the platform shine, however, Conrod includes an add-on 3.2″ full color touchscreen for output vehicle information, which eliminates the need for a smartphone. This display comes in a self-contained case with GoPro mounting points, allowing a user to secure it in their car with any GoPro compatible mount.

Conrod ships with several pre-installed apps for both Android and iOS gadgets, including a GPS data logger that keeps tabs on a vehicle’s location, a fuel economy tracker that monitors and records gas consumption, smart speed alerts that trigger emails and push notifications, as well as IFTTT-like logic blocks that can be defined to fit the needs and preferences of its user. For example, drivers can set it to roll up all the windows whenever the doors lock or sound the horn in the event of a sudden stop. Aside from displaying things such as oil and transmission temperatures, users can devise their own apps to view weather forecasts, tweets and just about anything else that comes to mind, all pulled down via Conrod’s cellular data connection.

In terms of hardware, the board boasts an Atmel | SMART SAM3X8E Cortex-M3 MCU, 8MB of memory, GPS, a SIM socket, Bluetooth 4.0 radio, an accelerometer and gyroscope, three temperature sensors, five CAN network transceivers, OBD-II diagnostic circuitry, and an external serial expansion jack. What’s more, Conrod is completely Arduino compatible.

While a number of startups have recently launched innovative products that can turn any older set of wheels into a smart car, Conrod taps into the CAN instead of the OBD-II port.

“Unlike OBD2, which is an open standard that anyone can read about, the CAN protocols used by specific vehicle manufacturers is not public information, and each manufacturer uses a different CAN language. We’ve spent thousands of hours decoding the CAN protocols in recent VW Group vehicles to enable Conrod to communicate with the CAN networks as if it was installed by the factory itself,” its creators add.

So, are you ready to pimp your ride? Then hurry over to its Kickstarter page, where the Conrod team is currently seeking $77,786. Delivery is expected to begin in December 2015.