Android was designed for mobile devices, but it's pretty scalable and actually not very difficult to get it to run on a long list of mobile and non-mobile embedded things. Of course, the difficulty is relative so you'll need to be familiar with a few things. That's where this great document from the folks at Stanfy comes into the picture.
Stanfy is a group of mobile software developers. They build and design software for iOS and Android, but the also develop custom Android firmware. Mixed in amongst their showcase of apps for phones and wearables, they've built a really nice document about embedded Android. They explain what it is, what it isn't, how it can be used and how to get started. They even go the extra mile and have a tutorial for building AOSP from start to finish.
The guide does a great job of breaking down some pretty technical lingo into language for most everyone. If you're a complete novice you'll need to use the power of Google a time or two to understand everything, but if you're familiar with it all you'll still be able to learn something. I've been monkeying around with the Android source code since 2009 and I still got a lot out of it. I'm a step closer to bringing my Nexus Q back to life!
It's a great Sunday read, so go have a look.
