XinaBox Product Review - Erinn #9


For this blog, I will be reviewing, XinaBox, modular electronics for developing, making products and learning, which I worked with as part of my project. I will explain the positive aspects of the project as well as the issues encountered. 

As I mentioned in previous blogs, we decided to use XinaBox to resolve our MicroBit to Ubidots MQTT issue. In the beginning, XinaBox seemed like a miracle discovery, however, as we began working with the technology things didn't turn out as well as expected. 

Advantages

1. MicroBit/MakeCode Support

XinaBox has MakeCode extensions available for most of its xChip modules. 

For this project, we used the CW01 Wi-Fi module and the SN01 GPS module. The extensions for modules can be found by typing, XinaBox/pwt- followed by the name of the module, in the extensions search bar in MakeCode. 

For example: 

XinaBox/pxt-cw01




XinaBox/pxt-SN01




2. Quick and Easy Assembly

A huge benefit of XinaBox is that there's no previous hardware knowledge required to put the device together. xChips can be clipped together using a connectivity standard without wires, soldering or breadboards.

Below is a video provided by XinaBox to provide an overview of the XinaBox system.




3. Ubidots

XinaBox is partnered with several IoT providers including Ubidots, to make it as easy as possible to get connected to the Internet of Things. 

Since we already planned to use Ubidots as our IoT cloud dashboard, this made things very easy.  

The CW01 MakeCode extension comes with four different Ubidots blocks. The blocks I used are as follows:

  • The "connect to Ubidots" block allows you to enter your Ubidots token which can be found under Profile -> API Credentials on Ubidots.
 
  • The "send value" block sends a value to your Ubidots device and a variable which you can call whatever you like. It also gives the option to include send location.



Disadvantages

1. Inconsistent Wi-Fi Connection

After working with XinaBox for a while, we noticed a significant weakness in its Wi-Fi connection.  

The Wi-Fi seemed to connect whenever it wanted to, having refused to connect multiple times using the exact same code that previously worked!

From reading the troubleshooting guide, I knew to expect the letter "C" to show when the device successfully connected to the Wi-Fi. This usually happened seconds after powering the device, however very often, the "C" would not display and the device wouldn't get any further, i.e. send/receive data.


This was particularly annoying on the day of our water test as I spent over 30 minutes redownloading the same code hoping the XinaBox CW01 xChip would attempt to connect to the mobile hotspot so I could test the GPS.

We purchased a router to use as we thought the issue might be from using our mobile hotspots however we never found a resolution and its unreliability was something we couldn't afford to have in our project.

2. Impractical GPS

At first glance the GPS seemed like a simple setup, installing the SN01 MakeCode extension and sending the longitude and latitude values to Ubidots. However, when powered up, the MicroBit displayed three dots, meaning "System busy – do not click buttons" according to the troubleshooting guide. 

In order to get the GPS to operate, we had to stand in an open area away from any overhead buildings that could obstruct the "line of sight", for approximately 15-20 minutes to allow the "almanac" to download. Even connected, it was still unstable and was likely to lose connection once moved.


Conclusion

This unreliability could lead to safety concerns if implemented in our project. For this reason and the disadvantages stated above, I believe we should move on from this technology and use a more stable, consistent alternative. 

From my experience with XinaBox technology, I would not recommend it as it has more issues than it's worth. The whole point of MicroBit and MakeCode is to enable anyone to code, including kids and people with little to no coding experience. XinaBox having a MakeCode extension is pointless as the technology is too complicated and has too many issues for these types of users. 

To "keep moving forward", I'm going to explore the technology Beebotte, which a previous group of Applied Robotics students used for their project.
























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