The Internet of Things (IoT) is here to stay, but getting started can seem intimidating. Inspired by the magical checkout process at my local library, Daniel Lindeman began the journey of building his own IoT book lending application. Along the way, he discovered that Python was consistently able to make the impossible seem approachable!

In this PyOhio 2019 talk, Daniel starts with a base installation of Raspbian on a Raspberry Pi and find that Python is already there waiting to help. Then he hooks up an RFID reader to our Pi, and see that even though it has wires and pins, it’s nothing to be scared of. With the RFID reader and the fantastic MFRC522-python library, he's able to read and write data to RFID stickers, neat!

He could stop here, but he's got Python, so he hooks it up to a Flask app, and ends with a complete book lending application. Watch this presentation to see Daniel demystify working with hardware and dispel some perceived barriers to entry for IoT applications.