WHAT IS ADRC?

Before I answer this question it is probably best if you watch this short video first...

In a nutshell, ADRC technology allows a controller to be tapped on a device, causing a graphical user interface for the device to appear on the screen. Thus enabling the user to instantly interact with the device. Imagine if every device in the world was made this way! We would all be able to interact with the things around us to get information, control and do all sorts of things that we can scarcely imagine at the moment.

This is the future that ADRC can deliver. Imagine you are walking down the street and you see a snack food vending machine.Mmmm, the candy looks good but you don't have the right change. In fact it seems like you never have the right change! Well if the vending machine was ADRC enabled, you would simply tap your smartphone on the touch point logo on the machine:

ADRC touch point logo

and the control panel for the vending machine would appear on your phone. Then select the candy that you want, the machine displays the price on your phone and you pay for it using PayWave or PayPass by tapping your phone again and the candy is yours!

I don't know about you but I never seem to have the change for a parking meter or if it takes credit card, it is out of service. So why not put ADRC technology in all the parking meters? Just tap your phone on the meter, select the parking time you want, the machine calculates the charge and displays it on your phone. You pay by PayWave or PayPass by tapping your phone on the meter again to confirm.

Hey I bet you're getting some ideas of your own by now.

One reason that ADRC is so different from all the other solutions out there right now is that you only need one app to handle every device. That's right only one app! Which really is the breakthrough here.You don't need an app for the vending machine, well in fact for every different vendor of vending machine and you don't need an app for the parking meter, in fact every different vendor of parking meter. Everybody that has a smartphone knows the problem of app overload; it is a daily nuisance. ADRC eliminates this in just the same way as the web browser did for the WWW. That is, ADRC delivers device browser technology and a markup language to make the interaction between controllers and the devices totally generic. But more on this in later posts.

We at Xped have already got the ball rolling by making some really useful devices that already have this amazing technology built in. Our IR Blaster will allow you to get rid of all your infrared remote controls forever and control your AV and AC from your phone. Our Ultra Plug allows you to control simple appliances like lamps, fans, heaters right from your phone and even see how much power they are using and their historical energy usage. Our Vari Plug is similar to Ultra Plug but allows you to dim a lamp or change the speed of an electric motor. These are just the first of many products on our road map.You can visit our website www.xped.com to get more information on these

For those of you that are hobbyists and Arduino fans, we have created the ADRC Shield. Just add one of these to your next Arduino project and you will be able to control it from your phone in minutes.Just like in the video.

Well that's it for now. I hope you think ADRC is as wonderful as we do. Stay tuned for my next installment that explains the main parts that make up the ADRC system

Until next time... have fun!

Chris Wood
CTO and co-founder