Recently, Google released its first operating system built for the Internet of Things, called Android Things. During this book, you will learn how to build IoT projects using this OS with compatible development boards and peripherals such as sensors, LEDs, servo, and so on.

In this chapter, at the beginning, we will give an overview of Android Things, covering what it is and how it differs from Android. You will learn how to reuse your Android knowledge in Android Things projects. After this, you will learn how to install Android Things on different boards such as Raspberry Pi 3 and Intel Edison with an Arduino breakout kit. This will help you to familiarize yourself with development boards while we set up our development environment. Once you are comfortable with it, we will move to creating the first Android Things project and you will learn how to use simple peripherals such as LEDs and buttons (or switches). In more detail, we will explore how to convert an Android project into an Android Things project. Moreover, you will have an overview of the most import Android Things API and how to use it in a real IoT project.

The main topics covered in this chapter are: