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Small Electronic Logic Blocks - eBlocks
eBlocks writes "eBlocks are small low-cost electronic devices that can be easily interconnected for a wide variety of applications such as: detecting motion, light, water, sound or magnetic fields; triggering a buzzer, a light, an electronic relay or a lock. Devices can communicate wirelessly or can be controlled remotely via the internet or a telephone. The eBlocks technology has been developed by a professor at U.C. Riverside who is looking for inspiration on its best uses. Try out the simulator. Suggestions and comments welcome!"
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
But doesn't this seem a tad bit like Lego's Mindstorms products?
but the light sensor has a lifetime of 1 year... and a few of the other blocks are only good for 2-3 years.
not sure if that's good for the average person with no programming abilities (the type of people who won't read about stuff)
When I was growing up around 1968 - 1969 Raython had a series of kits that you could build circuits with out wires by touching blocks together and the ground was a metal plate. Connections were metal contact with magnets behind that.
The Learning Company has had this since the early 1980 in a game called Robot Odyssey. You could wire stuff up and solve puzzles. I rember since I was on the conversion crew from the Apple II/IBM PC to Color computer.
Its a nice idea but has been done for a long long time.
.. for High School students. Too basic for anyone beyond that.
Looks like a decent replacement for lego for my kids now they are a bit old (7) for technic.
Of course when they get old enough to be left unsupervised with a soldering iron in a year or two I'll be introducing them to the joys of roll your own serial and ISA devices, but up until now there doesn't seem to have been a decent stop gap.
Beep beep.
Remove the "Configurations with loops are not valid!" warning, and instead handle configurations with loops. It shouldn't be hard; if you're worried about someone setting up an "invalid" loop (like a NOR gate with its output hooked up to one of its inputs) then just make sure that the output of your blocks is lagged one timestep from the input.
Seems like this would be a good way for developing nations to use more modern technology without having to have a lot of training, i.e. for this device use this arrangement, arrange this way for this device. That and easy to do repairs.. simply have extra blocks on hand to replace those that are bad/damaged.
Didn't the Japanese have something similar, maybe back in the 60s? I distinctly recall something called Denshi Blocks, which snapped together and had various circuits inside...
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Might have some educational uses but I can't imagine someone actually using this to build something they wanted to use. I would imagine that to make anything even semi complex would require a lot of boxes and a mess of wires.
You know what would be neat, a PC app that could communicate wirelessly with each box and then each box could also potentially talk to any other box wirelessly. So you could build the eBlock system on the PC (kinda like their simulator) then the computer tells the boxes which other boxes they are to talk to. Would be kinda cool.
This reminds me very much of programming a cheap (quasi-)PLC (programmable logic controller) we use at work often: a Siemens LOGO (pdf link). Basically, it's a device that has a bunch of inputs (8 digital, or 6 digital / 2 analog), and some outputs (4 digital), and contains a bunch of logic gates, comparators, and timers. You can make fairly sophisticated control systems using these.
We use them, for example, to control chemical injection systems. They have overrides based on filters backwashing, timers to dose to keep the pumps if they haven't run for a while, timers to prevent them running too long, etc. It's pretty endless what you can do, and these are only the lowest level of entry into the world of automation and PLCs.
Take the eBlock logic and timer modules, make them all software, and you have a LOGO. You still need the sensors and controls/outputs, but you can make some fairly complex programs involving hundreds of blocks, without the size of using hundreds of blocks.
The eblocks are a neat idea for educational purposes, but I'd see people quickly moving up to small PLCs (like the LOGO). They also definately don't have any use in industrial applications, though I don't know if that was the intent or not.
Speak before you think
Sounds a lot like Lego, but slightly more electronic. If that's the case, this should be pretty cool..
Here's another solution, Phidgets:
http://www.phidgets.com/
They offer sensors, controllers, and more.
Years later, when I actually played with live components, could build my own cases, and could jack everything into a serial port did I truely fall in love with building things. (Forrest E. Mims, there is a spot in heaven for you.)
Hey, I'm the same guy who maxed out the capabilities on the lego mindstorms in 2 days. Come on are more than 3 inputs and outputs REALLY too much to ask for... The MIT handboard has 12 inputs, 4 outputs, and if you slave over a few pins from the LCD you can us it to generate a 16 bit parallel interface...
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
. . .maybe someone can remove my e-stumbling blocks and I can get that EE I've always wanted.
Oooo-kaaay.
...glad to see that I'm not the only to look this over and, well, find it to be utterly trivial. I suppose, that is to say I was some what underwhelmed by what I did find, although as others have surmise, educators might find it interesting, but hardly the sort of thing I'd expect to find on /. as a front page story.
Didn't we learn anything from the Asgard? Just wait until these things start multiplying!
www.lonseidman.com
The UC Riverside engineering college has an ABHORENT graduation rate, when I was there it was 30%. The program was very tough, but there were also alot of professors who cared so little about their courses they taught *nothing*. I had one chem professor lecture on the heart medicine he was working on and iron refining techniques all semester, then he gave us a standardized test and the whole class failed. We'd never seen a problem worked on the board the entire course. Most of the lower division courses were like that, professors didn't give a crap. My graduation was delayed by a mechanical engineering teacher who flunked 80% of his class.
Contrast this with a professor like Vahid-- the entire class flunked his first midterm and he stopped the course and said "This is awful guys, I have never seen anything like this, ever. Obviously I'm doing something wrong because all of you shouldn't be failing like this. So I want everyone to take 5 minutes, write down what you feel is wrong with the course, turn it in, and then go home and take the day off and we'll come back tomorrow and go over the notes and see what we can come up with." And he was as good a friend and father to tiny tim as he promised.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
You could build all sorts of interesting projects out of those 200 in 1 kits they sold in the old days. They had water detectors, alarms where a circuit was opened, etc. Even low power AM band radio transmitters. The educational value was quite substantial. I started with a 150 in 1 kit, at the age of 7, and it provided me with most of what I knew about digital electrics, at that age.
Since then, I took on the real thing as I started in the development world.
(I posted a NULL by hitting return to early, on an earlier post. Sorry for the trouble.)
Though most will criticize Radio-Shack for lower quality, I did get some educational value out of it.
All I want is a logging block and a voltage block.
Then I could monitor the solar panels.
However, I have a problem seing how their concept is more advance than logiblocs.
The concept I'm working on will be based on open source hardware. any input on this ?
I was just reading about a possible business idea using do it yourself home security kits on Business 2.0... Perhaps this could be used for such a system if someone wsa willing to start it up?
1 98 35,7,00.html
http://www.business2.com/b2/getrich/snapshot/0,
Addbo
Man, this is a great idea as a learning tool but totally impractical for production purposes. In the end of the paper, section 8, the author writes that this could be used for things like detecting speeds of vehicles on streets or detecting water leaks. There is NO way that such large-scale applications could be made inexpensively with separate individual components like these. I work in the semiconductor industry and margins on commodity components like these would become are razor thin. It's like that because nobody will spend extra money if they can get away with it. Any engineer worth his salt would rather design it right rather than get it done with these kiddie building blocks.
Just my $0.55 (US inflation, 1774-2008, for $0.02)
For the less-eblock-inclined, to create logic gates: Connect two buttons to a two way logic gate, and set it... For an AND Gate: 0001 For a OR Gate: 0111 For a NOR Gate: 1000 Now, all we need are NOT gates (1 input, 1 output, inverts input)... then you can build massive neat things.
OK, I don't want to rain on his parade, it's a cool idea, and really good for people who don't want to work with proto-board or wire-wrap. I just see one BIG problem.....cost.
Having been into PIC's for a while now, I'm finding that cost is the final frontier when using/building small electronics. I can't imagine any of these building blocks being sold for less than $10-$15 each, and that's for the simple functions. By the time you get something really interesting going, it's gonna cost a LOT of money for all of the modules you'll need. MUCH more than it would to buy a PIC Demo board with programmer, LCD, and all the other features they throw into the box. From the links, it looks like he might have one of these processors in his boxen.
Here's a simple cost breakdown for one of the modules shown in the photo that I saw on the site:
1) Electronics: no less than $2 for any of the functions listed. PIC's are run from $2-18 in small qty, depending on features.
2) Wire: Sounds trivial, but it's gonna be $0.50 to attach two wires to a circuit board... That's a minimum for boxes that only have 2 wires, scale accordingly.
3) Packaging: small molded plastic box in qty $0.50. I know, I've been pricing them for my products.
4) Custom circuit board: minimum of $1.40 for small 1.5" X 2.5" 2-layer board.
5) Assembly: gonna cost $3 to stuff 20 small parts on that panelized board. No way around that, unless you've got a lot of spare time and are good with the iron.
6) Potting: gotta hold that stuff in the small enclosure. It's gonna be $0.50 here too.
7) Packaging/testing: it's gonna cost something to test and put that baby in a box. My estimate is at least $1 for each unit.
Really cool, but it looks really expensive.
For a cost comparison, you can purchase the PICDEM2+ board, with In-circuit debugger and development environment for $229.00 (digikey #DV164006-ND). You can also download the demo C compiler for free and start hacking immediatly.
With the features on that board, you can do 10-15 modules worth right off the bat....
AVR is a similar option, as is the 8051 and Z80. There's lots of small demo boards available.
If you like PLC type logic, try one of the cheaper units from Keyence or DirectLogic...these units are about $150 with all the features shown and more.... Both have high-speed counters, large memory and at least 8-in and 8-out....
Bottom line is this, don't be afraid of tinkering with parts...it's fun, cheap, and you'll learn a lot more by actually reading the datasheets and soldering wires yourself.
Happy tinkering
Remember those? Only instead of working with electrical energy, it was all about working with mechanical energy. Some of the capsules were differentials, some where gear reducers, and some interacted with the outside world, with lights or vacuums or propellors.
Other than the fact that they were bulky as hell, it was one of my favorite toys. Ah fond bathtub memories of running the vacuum in reverse and making a squirt powered pontoon boat.
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
I would have one battery block you could plug in anywhere in the setup, rather than have each block have its own battery. If you have 37 blocks hooked together, how do you know which one has the bad battery? On the downside it makes the connectors and wires bulkier by one power line, and requires n+1 blocks while before you had one. but it beats having to buy 37 batteries every year and take everything apart to replace them. Cheaper too because you can use smaller lighter, unopenable boxes.
(Assuming that you have a PIC or other smarts per block): You should have some way of plugging in a computer interface block and have the entire circuit topology displayed on your computer: each block can query all its neighbors to ask what they are and what state they are in, and what their neighbors are, etc.
Have user-programable blocks. Maybe a full PIC development C compiler etc. is required, or you can write your own little-language (or better yet, one that already exists) to lower the bar for beginning programmers. That way, when someone wants a block that shows red when the cat flap has had an exit more recently than an entrance, it can be programmed up, rather than requiring the development of a new cat-flap module.
[karmawhore]Everything should be open source, with a Linux development system, of course.[/karmawhore]
Servo motor blocks, motor blocks, etc. Maybe make a Mindstorms interface.
Here are just a few glaring omissions from their catalog...
Remember all those robots you made as a kid with those gears and block? I think this would be really cool if somehow this technology could be applied there.
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Go canucks, habs, and sens!
anybody who's used the labview scientific test, measurement&recording and control software package can see how this will work just like LV in hardware; all you'll have to do will be pick your modules, wire them together and voila, a totally custom hardware solution. cool.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
I've seen water detecting devices, motion detectors, power controls, etc. that communicate wirelessly over the X10 protocol. SmartHome sells some such devices.
1. Buy eblocks.
2. Combine with lego.
3. ???
4. Profit!!! no wait, not profit,... Robot!!!!
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Heathkits! That was the way to learn electronics. You started with a 2 or 3 transistor springclips-on-Masonite breadboard and worked your way up to some pretty good test equipment or maybe a TV, stereo, or ham gear. The manuals were excellent and nobody since has ever even come close to their quality. Every Heathkit I ever built is still going strong. Wish they would come back.
http://www.tkgate.org/screenshots.html
From the "number eBlocks catalog", it seems all outputs are in imperial units. What a shame! If there are any plans to make this "international", i.e. be used by non-americans, all units should be metric. C'mon, make the step to the 21st century! (since you Americans (and British) didn't make the step during the 20th).
Neat. Reminds me of some lego-like logic blocks I've used in college in Switzerland. I wasn't even born when those were developped, but I had quite some (geek) fun with them later! :)
Cf. http://www.smaky.ch/en/lami/part3.php
No motion detectors and not many other cool sensors/actuators, but the whole set of logic functions from basic gates up to microcontrollers (added later) were provided.
These Logidules were too pricey for the general public, only a few schools/universities used them. Glad to see someone else coming with a somewhat similar idea, simpler but with some exiting extra goodies (wireless...)
Tell me, do they still have the Minority Study Room? It was a unique feature to the Bourne COE facility; quite the conversation piece.
I think the EE department definitely had more going for it, but unless I've missed my guess, the eBlock systems are somewhere in the pre-prototype phase, and they haven't built more than one category. It strikes me as an incredibly useful teaching tool, ala the aforementioned Raytheon product from decades back, which you oft can find lurking in science museum exploratoriums. I have long wondered when UC Riverside will make its educational mark upon the world, and join the ranks of UC Berkeley. Maybe the next decade will hold some promise.
When I was a student there, several projects were going on. Still, after all these years, this is the first time I've seen anything at all come out of Riverside, besides hot, dusty smog. There were quite a lot of false starts. The formula there was: pay your undergrads slave labor rates to do graduate research, hire the grad students to teach and grade, and then fritter your time away as a tenured professor, brooding about when you will take over the world with your swarm of army robots. Hmm. I do wonder if Gerado Beni resembled the mad scientist in Buckaroo Banzai, or if he was the character basis. Don't mod this up as funny, I genuinely feared the insidious Dr. Beni and his research, and am not the least bit sarcastic or dramatic in my views.
Sorry you are unemployed, try San Diego for EE work. Riverside has next to nothing for high-tech industry, except the Otter Pop factory, as I recall. Citrus trees and la'te's in the 909.
Ah, but what if you didn't need an engineer? What if municipalities or factories or whatever could get their janitors and repairers and other semi-skilled labourers to make these? Engineers should only be used for creating something that is unlike every else ever made*, the kinds of devices these might replace should currently be made by technologists, eBlock-type technology will simply bring the task down to the level of technicians or below.
* No two bridges are alike. The kinds of things which may at first appear to have an engineer because they're important rather than unique are actually just unique.
One inch by one inch plastic cubes had magnets to hold them to a metal backplane. On top was the symbol for the component they contained. Transistors, Photocells, variable resistors, etc. Connections out were to the sides of the cubes. Each conetion had a magnet, and through very well thought through design, the polarity of the magnets made right design easy.
All a young nerd had to do was rearrange the blocks on backplane and whatever circuit was on the top of the designs was functional.
It was like a real world, analog circuitry version of the simulaor. (The simulator by the way is very sweet.) Lego and this guy should get together and revive this concept. The IP is probably out there now.
Great work! Need help getting these kits to market?
"Knowing everything doesn't help..."
Go to basicx.com and get a simple to use and program basic stamp compatible chip. Better yet it is way faster than any basic stamp and holds more instructions. 50 dollar chip and some cheap leds and switches and
much more flexibility. His idea is ok but it is to costly compared to some of the other solutions. This is nothing more that the ibutton idea except ibutton only requires a single wire.
Got Code?
The problem with those 150-in-1 and 200-in-1 are that you can't create anything permanent with it. Everything you do with them is stuck in that big box. And the wiring would get so complex and abstract for the most advance circuits, that I would end up following the plan without really understanding what I was doing.
that would be spelled "retarded", moron.
and quoting science fiction shows is perfectly germane for a NEWS FOR NERDS website.
I can see this opening up a new segment in the pr0n industry. What size/shape are these things, and can we get one to vibrate?
"Operating systems suck: you're better off using only the BIOS" --trainsaw.com
Today, the same kind of kids are learning how to deal with computers, learning to program, and their universe can be largely defined as "things that can be done on a computer", including learning simulations for things that can't be done on a computer. For them, the world IS the network and things that don't happen there are somehow unreal.
This has been happening for long enough that we've got grownups who can't see the value of a space program because it happens in the physical world, not cyberspace.
Cyberspace is important, but it, too, is based on physical artifacts. These artifacts are manufactured and their raw materials have to come from somewhere. How many people can look at a PC and figure out where it physically came from, down to the mines from where the steel in the cases came from?
IMHO, we need more educated people who understand how to deal in a technological way with physical things.
There is no way to build electronic things that work without dealing with physical objects and their mechanical properties.
Anything that encourages kids to get involved with electronics will provide the kind of education you appear to favor.
One other thing. Looked under the hood of a modern automobile? Physical, mechanical, electronic controls, and software. It's the perfect example of the combination of mechanical and electronic devices you're going to see in most "mechanical" devices these days. If you want kids to learn mechanical design, these kids have to learn electronics anyway.
Tech Public Policy stuff
The value seems to come mostly from the simplicity of the components, rather than their physical nature, so why not make them virtual and run them on a single processor (microcontroller)? You'd have the various I/O modules (without any processing), but no logic modules, rather a central processor module.
The processor module supplies power to the I/O modules and is programmed from a PC. The PC presents a virtual layout space where various simplified I/O modules can be chosen based on the actual ones present. For example, there might be several sound modules with different sound trigger levels. As a bonus the system could be simulated and fed sequences of inputs to see how it responds.
The main objection would be that you don't have the hands-on experience, but the modules described on the page are already complex encapsulated systems so you aren't really working at the basic level in the first place (the logic modules are the closest to "bare metal").
It seems like a simpler (yet more complex) 'The Incredible Machine'! Man, I loved that game...
He should definately open source this puppy - i can think of at least five good improvements off the top of my head. Anybody made an ALU yet?
I started with the 150 in 1 kit -- the one in the wooden box little springs... ah the fond memories..
however, it was the 300 in 1 kit that really got me excited about electronics. this kit came with a whole bunch of simple components and had a prototyping board in the middle... this eliminated a lot of the mess that the spring-based kits caused, and allowed you to plugin your own components. i still find ways to use it when designing new circuits - i think that it still has the original batteries!
the end
If you get a kick out of this stuff, like myself, you should check out Logic Works & Design Works.
I've only used Logic Works, and it has every possible component imaginable. From D flip flops to light bulbs to quartz crystals. You can even enter a chip number (such as the 555 timer chip). It is an incredible program - i would love to try design works. (Fortunately, they have a 30 day free trial! Methinks i've found what i'm doing with my friday night...)
Logic Works is the student version, and can be purchased at Amazon with a book for $87. Design Works is the professional version, and can be purchased at http://www.capilano.com/.
If you want to learn electronics (aside from a university), get a book or two, and read them. Then get some similation software and learn how circuits behave. Then get some premade eval boards of whatever you want (MCU, CPLD, FPGA etc.) and play with them. If you are still interested, then you probably want to work as an engineer, since only then you will have access to all the expensive (and neat) toys and gizmos.
But if you don't plan to become an engineer, but only want to make some IR-operated control for your house, don't try to use those "blocks", or bredboards, or wire wrap - that is nothing but waste of time. Begin with a design on paper. Then simulate it if you can (you can if you have a computer.) Then either etch the PCB, or order one (tools are free, job about $100) and assemble your new toy yourself.
If you can get away with using standard eval boards for your purpose, definitely do so. Fact is, more and more "hardware" is now implemented with DSP technologies and highly integrated, specialized ICs. You don't want, in fact, study how to make a decent RF amplifier - you buy one from Minicircuits for less than a dollar. You don't want to make a radio with 20 transistors - instead you use one or two chips (Analog Devices). Instead of going to the basics you can embrace the modern technology, it is much easier to work with, and many tools for the beginners can be had for free (see Xilinx, for example), and the visibility into your circuit is much, much better [unless you have a million dollar lab.]
I had a similar idea for a product a few months ago. I mentioned it to my business managers and IP lawyers. It seemed cool, but we are concentrating on software for now, so the idea must wait until very late this year at the earliest.
Then I read the summary of this article and freaked because it seemed someone else was already implementing my idea. Ouch. Wait a week and I'll have another one.
Then I read the linked articles. While they have really explored what COULD be done, they have no clue what SHOULD be done. The idea is presented without any thoughts for real world marketing. I could not find a picture of a working model.
Combined with some of the information/links in the posts, there is a good chance that many aspects of my idea are already patented or will have prior art. But the patent office likes applications that reference a bunch of other patents, so maybe there is still room for patents on the critical elements that the college boys have missed.
Why did they publish an article that explores many of the possibilities without any working models? Why did they give completely unusuable examples for using the idea?
If we do pursue my idea, the Slashdot crowd will believe it was just an application of what this article suggests. We should outsell all the products suggested in the posts.
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
I went there just in case; was a bit curious. Predictably he didnt show! Troll.
The Smart-Its Project has been doing something similar since around 2000.
http://www.smart-its.org/To err is human, but to forgive is beyond the scope of the Operating System...
Use 1.0 - the real-time simulating actually works. You also have a 'reset' feature. If you want to remove a single component, drag it to the right side of the space.
Read; Write; Execute
http://www.avrfreaks.org
GNU Open-Source C Compiler Toolchain
$60 US starter kit with prototype board (STK500)
Linux Compatible
Thousands of open-source projects
What else do you need?
..don't panic
The real problem that is addressed with these blocks is that of rapid electronic prototyping. That is pretty hard to do. Ideally I would want to be able to put a number of analog/digital blocks together and have a working set within an afternoon.
This is very hard to do. Even though microcontrollers are easy to set up, they need a custom circuit. The second problem is that even if things are connected wireless, they need power to work. The third problem is heat. Building blocks should be placed in a way that removes heat from the blocks. A fourth problem are the proprietary tools that are often needed to program an fpga or microcontroller. I don't have them and if you don't prototype often they are too expensive to own.
An advantage of building blocks would be the easy repair of a system. Repair by replacement. However, the professors implementation of the blocks is too simplistic IMHO. If you are building an expensive package that can be connected with others, in a click, put a processor inside it. It is not that people cannot program (a la lego mindstorm) but that they cannot connect/place the right components quickly/accurately enough.
Building blocks that I would make:
1) fast processor
2) a/d - d/a converter blocks for a number of signals
3) sensor connector (pressure/temp/...)
4) power amplifier
5) usb/firewire/bluetooth/...
6) IDE drive block
7) power rails to drive these blocks
8) FPGA
9) DVI/CRT monitor (wouldn't it be nice to hook up test blocks in the design)
Yes, I've thought about it too...
nosig today
I know it's late in the discussion but I'll add an idea that we kicked around a while back.
Basically, on the back of a pc you have a shelf, with five or so docking sockets on it. These sockets should be rounded, friendly, damage proof, and easy to attach something to. Think sitting your kettle on it's little power dock.
There is a standardised form for the things which attach to these sockets. Say, a small cuboid like a cigarette packet. Make them hotpluggable and have some shit-hot firmware solution so that drivers can be loaded from hardware and upgraded there if need be. And there you have a modular, friendly device for expanding PCs. Throw away IDE sockets, PCI, AGP, even USB to a certain extent. Stop opening up your PC for upgrades. Complete portability of these devices between PCs.
Impractical? Maybe. But it's the way that it should be.
Free iPods - now in the UK!
I had a similar kit when I was a kid. It was a series of 1" cube green plastic pieces. Four of the edges had puzzle-piece like connectors with embedded metal. Some of the pieces were double-long, to accomodate extra connections. On the face it had the symbol for the component inside. These were really cool, I built hundreds of things from the book, buzzers, lie detectors (galvanic response), light-controlled devices, etc. I can't remember the name, came with about 120 pieces. It was extremely easy to use and was fairly sturdy when assembled. If someone offered blocks in this style for digital electronics, I'd be first in line to buy!
My guesses:
(a) > $10/unit. (Somewhere on the site I read about $1/CPU. That's probably an in-bulk price. The board, case, battery, etc. are not zero cost.)
(b) Units are not available, and there is no firm timetable for availability. (Otherwise something would be prominent on the site, or in the /. thread.)
If my guesses is wrong, then eblocks are something I'll put on my list of toys to buy!
You guys are thinking too small! What I want is the ability to connect some serious objects together and make them all fly in formation. Think of it as a reverse english version of a network. The network is the main thing and the objects connected to it organize themselves together. A simple example: A display object, a control object, an audio object(s), a video object and storage object(s) connected to a network to form an audio/video playback network. The network API (software objects) are all written in p-code so that whatever CPU a particular object is using will be able to interpret it and use it. If my humungous A/V system had that I could get rid of all the remote controls and just have one remote control object to control everything. FYI, this is not my original idea. I got it from "The Mote In God's Eye." The Moties built their whole technology on modules.
Wayne Gramlich, of the Homebrew Robotics club of Silicon Valley (http://www.hbrobotics.org/), has had a similar project for years; he's released the source, schematics, and gerber plots for his RoboBricks work under some sort of public license.
http://robobricks.net/
It looks like he's also got a commercial interest in building these:
http://robobricks.com/
But I'm not sure what the status of that is.
I'm kind of surprised eblocks didn't include a courtesy link...
Wow, this is an interesting advanced concept. The interface between modules seems to be complex though.
eBlocks don't run Linux, but this really small electronic logic blocks device sure does. How about an interface eBlock, that connects these simple sensor/actuator networks to the awesome power of a fully operational logic array?
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make install -not war
That brings back memories - I received a Mykit System 80(?) which had all the components (resistors, capacitors, solar cell, microphone, morse code switch) mounted on two plastic frames. Yellow wires were used for long connections, red wires for medium length connections and blue for the short connections. Simple circuits were fun and easy to make, but complex circuits required something like 40+ wires of all lengths, and you would always end up pulling out one wire as you tried to make a new connection.
I remember seeing another system (maybe a later model) where all the components were in little plastic cubes with the symbols on the top, and little metal prongs at the sides and base, so they could be plugged into a plastic case to build projects. Constructing a project simply involved replicating a curcuit diagram rather than stringing together wires.
Although software simulators seem to be what schools are using now.
This is great, but if you're looking for an easy and eductional introduction to electronics/embedded control then LEGO has really done already this with Mindstorms. And provided a great interface for learning basic process-oriented logic through their PC programming application. It's like Turtle-Logic++..
I think the more important value of the eBlock concept is the purpose stated on the site; to make it easy to create custome electronic devices for the home and everyday use. Too bad the physical interface of these isn't as straight forward as LEGO or Capcela (a product-line whose day has sadly passed)...
2-cents,
Levendis47
--==[ AOL YIM ICQ : Levendis47 : levendis47@yahoo.com ]==--
...in an an interactive fiction game called Spider and Web.
These things are still used! These homebrew logic blocks aren't equipped with output devices beyond LEDs or small numerical displays, but they're incredibly useful when it comes to practicing what you're learning in a logic systems course.
The Logic Systems Laboratory of the SFIT/EPFL has a lab full of logidules. The Computer Science and Communication Systems students in their first year there are lucky enough to play with this geeky toy on a weekly basis...
I'm wondering how many generations of nerds have drooled over those blocks. Even if they're almost 30 years old, they're still incredibly addictive to use.
- Hadriven
patent that "error detector" as it will be usefull in all kinds of places. immagine the billions it will save in the field of space exploration alone.
Actually, the interface is 0-5 volt logic
levels, using 2400 baud 8N1 (1 start bit,
8 data bits, no parity bit and 1 stop bit.)
It is really quite easy to talk to a RoboBrick.
-Wayne
You might also want to check out the Teleo modules from MakingThings:
http://www.makingthings.com/
They have C interfaces that run on most any Posix system, including PCs, Macs, and Linux. They connect via USB. I have been writting a mini-sequencer for controlling them for use in my haunted house animatronics.
Very well documented and some interesting projects that use the devices, including an infinite maze. It is the size of a small room, but the hallway walls move so you can travel through it forever.
I agree your communication protocol is very simple and using a serial bus eliminates a lot of wiring. but you need software to send a command to a robobrix, instead of just plugging together eBlocks. Your concept is more like the Mindstorm concept, with a central microcontroler. Am I right ?
Is it just me, or are eBlocks remarkably similar to Lego Mindstorms which I used to build all sorts of sensors and robots several years back?
Ha! You posted! Much too busy my ass!!!
Maybe if Macs & a certain Higher Education Web Portal didn't suck, you could have more time to post. MUHAHAHA!!!!!