The Legend of the DevNet S’mores Kit!

DevNet Create 2018 attendees roasting s’mores at the fire-pit gathering.

Deep in the underbelly of Cisco a crackpot group of engineers, scientists and food preparation experts gathered to work on a project only known as the symbol, ‘!’. It was so classified that it didn’t even have a name. Meetings were created. Multiple teams were brought together. There was a rumor that NASA was consulted. They worked for months, and then years… and then a few more days. Finally, the first night of DevNet Create came along and out of the ashes of the Computer History Museum fire-pits popped up what could only be known as the S’mores Kit! It was a engineering marvel. A tube labeled, “DevNet Create” with separate bags inlayed containing marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars. The instructions inside indicated how to use the kit and the contents inside. Nothing like it had ever been seen in, or around a fire-pit. The legend of the S’mores Kit had been born!

No one is really sure if any of this really happened. There were conflicting stories and multiple news articles written about the subject. Primetime news shot some exposes about the topic and no conclusion could ever be made. Below are some quotes.

“We are not even sure what you are talking about” – Primetime news reporter

“Why are we talking about s’mores?” – Man on the street

“I cannot talk about the S’mores Kit” – High up Cisco executive

All we can say is there may or may not have been a group of engineers, scientists and food prep experts inside of Cisco creating the feat of engineering. What I can tell you is that the kit was so impressive that it needed it’s own API.

Thoughts of Creates, Reads, Updates, and Deletes were going through my head as others were diligently roasting their marshmallows. What else would you think about during that time? Immediately after the fire-pit experience, I went back up to my room and started writing. A twitter post was created and the content of that tweet is contained below.

As promised as a follow up. The Cisco #Smoreskit #API. You’ve seen it first at @DevNetCreate.

— Michael chenetz (@mchenetz) April 11, 2018

As soon as I got back from California to my native state of NJ, I found that the API might have not been planned out as well as I would like. That is what happens when you drink a few beers around a fire and then outline a new API. So I redesigned the API slightly and now we have the latest version of the API. Introducing SmoresKit v32.2! This is an actual API that you can play with.

Smoreskit API 32.2:

Endpoint: smoreskit.herokuapp.com

Description: Initial Roast - Used to place a new marshmallow in the fire and assign a UUID.

POST:/smoreskit/api/v32.1/roast/new

Example:
http://smoreskit.herokuapp.com/smoreskit/api/v32.1/roast/new

Description: trigger a turn motion of the smores stick. Guid value. The body is optional. It can contain a specific guid or it will use the guid from the, ‘new' command
PUT:
body = {
Id: '57f0afd2-3d9a-11e8-b467-0ed5f89f718b’
/smoreskit/api/v32.1/roast/turn

Example:
http://smoreskit.herokuapp.com/smoreskit/api/v32.1/roast/turn

Description: Retrieve stick from fire and remove marshmallow. GUID of marshmallow can be inputted or last new marshmallow is assumed.

GET:
/smoreskit/api/v32.1/roast/marshmallow/{{guid}}

Example:

http://smoreskit.herokuapp.com/smoreskit/api/v32.1/roast/marshmallow/57f0afd2-3d9a-11e8-b467-0ed5f89f718b

Find Inspiration for Your IoT Project

So what can we do with this API? Right now, absolutely nothing except get a response back. However, it is very easy to conceive a few ideas that could be related to this and IoT? You could create something out of micro-controllers and robotics that would lower the marshmallow into a fire and then use heat sensors, stepper motors, and other components to create a fully repeatable marshmallow roasting experience. Then you could use a product like Cisco Kinetic to interact with the creation. For now, however, this is all just code hosted in the cloud.

The great thing to take away from this little lesson is how physical objects can map to an API. The idea that you can take something tangible like a s’cmores roasting process and convert it into programmable calls is very powerful. This is the first of many articles and tutorials around programmability. Stay tuned for more. Most important, have fun and stay curious!