Demo: Bringing the Internet of Toys to Life

The Internet of Things (IoT) will connect not only Zigbee-enabled devices but also Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics, given the recent rise of IPv6. We developed a power saving communication protocol for low-complexity IPv6-connected devices that can support multiple applications. We demonstrate here in an entertainment-related application scenario how to use that protocol to bring what we refer to as the Internet of Toys to life (Fig. 1). We demonstrate a real-time Internet of Toys system using the Multi-Hop Power Saving Mode (MH-PSM) protocol developed for Wi-Fi enabled IPv6-connected devices on the Contiki OS embedded open source platform [1]. MH-PSM enables low-latency ad hoc communication using 802.11 over multiple hops [2]. The software system includes the RRPL dynamic routing [3] and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). The hardware platform is based on low-complexity Arduino Due boards. The system setup includes a gateway, which is an Internet-connected laptop running a CoAP border-router. The toys and gateway create an 802.11 IBSS (ad hoc) network using IPv6. We have implemented an application that enables toys to speak together in coordination (i.e., to engage in a dialog according to a scripted story). The coordination requires signaling between toys. The gateway runs a web server allowing some features of the application to be controlled by a web browser on a phone. The web application creates signaling traffic between the phone and toy(s) which traverses the gateway. The toys can also be monitored and controlled remotely from anywhere in the Internet using CoAP. Fig. 2 shows experimental results when ten toys are active simultaneously transmitting one packet per second to all the other nodes. Such a setup creates a congested environment, with the topology including up to five-hop routes. Comparing the demo setup with an earlier testbed that used MH-PSM [2] with static routes, we note an increase of the delay due to the routing overhead of RRPL. For similar reasons, the packet delivery ratio is also on average 5% lower in the real-time system compared to an earlier evaluation in a testbed. The real-time application clearly introduces new challenges that must be addressed compared to an evaluation in a testbed with predetermined routing tables. However, this application scenario can handle the extra work and the real-time system demonstrates that MH-PSM with RRPL and CoAP can efficiently support a wide range of IoT applications, with packet delivery ratio over 90%. Currently, we are working on moving this platform to support more powerful OpenWrt-enabled devices. In our demonstration, participants can experience the Internet of Toys and use an iPhone (provided) to select a story for the toys to narrate.