the basics

What MICO can do

MICO Shield board
MICO Shield board

MICO makes Arduino cell phone interface easy, so that users can focus on creating their awesome projects and not on debugging.  MICO is the development platform for creating remotely controlled projects such as Home automation taking advantage of the cellular network. MICO plugs into an Arduino board and connects to a cell phone’s headset jack.

Example Applications

  • MICO answers the cell phone attached to it and then uses pre-recorded voice prompts to present information and options to callers, and touch-tone telephone keypad entry to gather responses. Responses can then be used to control lights, motors and other actuators, and get readings of sensors such as temperature, proximity and others. Of course since it relies on the cellular network, the caller can be just a few feet or hundreds of miles away from where the project is physically located!

Key Functions:

  • Detect a ringing phone – monitoring signal amplitude on analog input
  • Answer the phone – toggling the Answer/End call button
  • Play audio – stored in the MicroSD card
  • Decode DTMF tones – dedicated onboard IC
  • Encode DTMF tones – playing recorded tone files

Buy a MICO board

MICO board is now available for sale for the general public! Click here to get yours!

Download the MICO software

The MICO software is free, open source. These libraries and sample sketches are compatible with the Arduino Software and will help you get you going in no time!

Getting Started

Visit the getting started section for specific instructions and tutorials on using your board.

Support

The forum is the place to start with all questions. There you’ll find the Q&A with common questions.

Development

For information on the development of MICO, see the Gadget Makers’ Blog . Changes to the software are discussed on the Github project page.

What is MICO?

Mico is the Portuguese/Spanish word for  small monkey. It’s pronounced “mee co”. These very smart little creatures inspired the name for this cool open source code shield.  MICO stands for Mobile IVR & Control  and is a shield for Arduino.

Similar projects

Below is a list of other projects out there that discuss interfacing Arduino to a cell phone. Those projects were not verified, and are just listed as a reference.