In December 2020, Amazon Web Services launched an ESP32-based educational Kit, making it the best idea for a Christmas / New Year’s gift that you can give to your tech-geek friends or children! Manufactured by M5Stack, the AWS IoT EduKit is meant to help all developers, from students to experienced engineers and professionals, acquire hands-on experience in building end-to-end IoT applications, with ESP RainMaker and ESP Alexa SDKs. The whole package combines a reference hardware kit with a set of easy-to-follow user guides and example code.

Developers can get started by purchasing the reference hardware kit from M5Stack. The reference hardware kit includes a touch screen for controls, and commonly used IoT sensors including temperature, accelerometer, gyroscope, and microphone. The Kit is powered by an Espressif ESP32 micro-controller: D0WDQ6-V3, to be precise. The reference hardware kit supports FreeRTOS, Arduino, and MicroPython, which allows developers to select their preferred software framework for their IoT applications. To purchase your reference hardware kit, visit Amazon.com or the M5Stack store.

Once you receive the hardware kit, access the getting-started guide and follow the steps for installing the Espressif RainMaker Mobile App on your phone. The Espressif RainMaker Mobile App will allow you to control the AWS IoT EduKit reference hardware and connect it to AWS IoT. Next, you can select from a list of free projects available on the AWS IoT EduKit webpage. Start with building a basic connected-home application and progress over time to running a machine-learning model with the Amazon SageMaker Autopilot, or building a Voice-Assisted Smart-Home application with the Alexa Voice Service Integration for AWS IoT (AFI).

To get all the details about this educational kit, please visit the AWS IoT EduKit webpage.