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BUG - "The LEGO of Gadgets"

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-it-looks-neat-at-least dept.

TheBrutalTruth writes "Bug Labs will soon be launching what Webware calls 'the LEGO of gadgets.' From their site: 'BUG is a collection of easy-to-use electronic modules that snap together to build any gadget you can imagine. Each BUGmodule represents a specific gadget function (ex: a camera, a keyboard, a video output, etc). You decide which functions to include and BUG takes care of the rest, letting you try out different combinations quickly and easily. With BUG and the integrated programming environment/web community (BUGnet), anyone can build, program, and share innovative devices and applications. We don't define the final products — you do.'" Looks a bit vaporous, but conceptually interesting.

15 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Looking forward to the teleporter by whyloginwhysubscribe · · Score: 5, Funny

    But worrying about it being vaporous...

    1. Re:Looking forward to the teleporter by splutty · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That entirely depends on the strength of your powersupply I'm sure. But your teleporter might still find a good use as a smoke signal generator. So not to worry! The possibilities are endless.

      The concept is a great one, though. And also one that goes back a long way to all the electronics kits I used to have as a kid. What I'm wondering is mainly: How easy would it be to build custom modules that 'click into' all the other modules? And with that I mean not using the already available ones.

      That's basically what I ended up doing with those electronics kits. Little wooden blocks with my own R/C circuit on it, and connecting that into the existing block of the kit. I'm a bit doubtful about this being feasable in this sort of setup, though, since the complexity is probably way too high. A shame, really..

      Give kids more electronics kits! (Let them build their own computer with a Z80 :) Nice and cheap, and if it blows up, well, it costs $2 to get a new Z80.

      --
      Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
  2. Overhyped? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I dunno. Looking at the device on the website, I can't help but wonder if this isn't overhyped. It appears to only have 2 generic snap-in ports on top with the rest of the ports defining a more specific interface. What that means is not so much, "You define the final product", but more along the lines of, "You can use these attachements... or not."

    It really doesn't seem all that different than your average embedded dev-kit + a USB hub. Certainly the comparison to LEGO does not hold. LEGOs are based on a key component of classical construction: The brick. Toys of its nature existed long before the LEGO was invented. The key innovation to the LEGO was the "snap-together" interface which gave the bricks a structural stability that their real-world counterpart lacked.

    What you have here is not so much a key innovation on top of existing, generic components, but rather a repackaging of components that can be found in a variety of products. Of course, there's always the possibility that I'm underestimating this design. In which case I look forward to BUG proving me wrong. :-)

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  3. Didn't we already do this... by INeededALogin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its called "Whitebox PC". Seriously... peripherals: camera, keyboard, mouse, trackball, gps, harddrives, infared, etc...

    Seems like nothing more than the recreation of a PC with non-standard interconnects.

  4. Re:more interesting.. by mabhatter654 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    you'd like Gumstix, it's closer to what you want.

    http://www.gumstix.com/

  5. Oh Crap... by dfn5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    This must be the real cause of the replicator problem in our galaxy. They started out as Plastic Lego's until they worked their way up in some strange Katamari fashion to Asgard alloy technology.

    --
    -- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
  6. Re:Not to be captain buzzkill, but... by Lijemo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    why is this better than a gadget that has all that stuff already in it?

    If you have to ask, then you're not the target audience =^)

  7. Only 4 ports? by Thelasko · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This thing only has 4 ports? Is there some other add on that splits one of the ports in to 3 or 4 more ports? I also don't think an accelerometer is worthy of taking up one of those precious ports all to itself. I think this is a step in a nice direction, but I don't think it lives up to it's potential, or is valuable to the average non-geek consumer.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  8. Re:Not to be captain buzzkill, but... by _KiTA_ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    why is this better than a gadget that has all that stuff already in it?

    The same reason LEGO is better than a toy that's already made.

    (If we have to explain it, you wouldn't get it.)

  9. Re:more interesting..Here's What You Want! by slas6654 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I thought this thru a while ago. I really wanted to do hobby electronics but products like this (BUG) were all very high level. The product I have come to love is the Parallax Javelin Stamp Developers Kit. Here's what you get: - Developer's Electonics Breadboard - JVM on a Chip - Every peripheral device under the sun that can talk via RS232 - Java IDE with realtime debugging - Ability to program and download java boot classes onto a SD chip - Completely "open source" Check it out: http://www.parallax.com/ProductInfo/JavelinStampGeneralInformation/tabid/255/Default.aspx

  10. Whatever happened to LEGO of electronics? by autophile · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember about 30 years ago, there was this set with these little clear plastic cubes. Each cube contained a discrete component: a resistor, transistor, wire, whatever. You could fit the cubes together to make a circuit. I don't remember what that was, or whatever happened to it.

    Maybe it was German. I remember my dad used to bring me home a lot of Philips electronics kits from his business trips to Europe.

    --Rob

    --
    Towards the Singularity.
  11. Just what can it do ? by Ruie · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the website: base module $299 (for early adopters) and 4 more modules (GPS, camera, accelerometer, screen) for $50-100 each. Buy all: $595.

    How is this different from the many embedded boards you can buy or even a PDA/phone (e.g. openmoko) ? The only new feature is fancy packaging. It does not appear you can connect more these four modules or link bases together easily.

    I wish they actually made something that let you do new things. For example, I would be delighted to shell out $299 for one of these:

    • A Spartan FPGA board with 1 GB MAC+PHY (or PHY alone). Spartan must be largest that WebKit supports, with all connections routed to nice high-speed connectors (with more than 40 usable pins !). Current best: www.digilent.com, 40 pins, USB 2.0 interface (limited to 10-20MB/sec due to the way they hooked up FX2 chip). Such a board is possible (and relatively easy) to design by an amateur - but very expensive to make as it would have to be 6 layers and require soldering BGA chips. Price can only go down when many are made at the same time. Possible hobby applications: software radio, software oscilloscope, home made projectors, photonics.
    • Same, but with connector for SPF modules instead of built-in MAC/PHY
    • Same, but capable of usable 10Gbit per second
    • 10/100 and/or 1Gbit and/or wireless board with 8 or more 1 Mhz 16bit ADC inputs and equal number of 12-16bit DAC outputs, plus digital I/O. Should be easy to design and medium hard to make - mostly because 10/100 MAC/PHYs and FPGAs do not come in convenient packaging and Digilent board (and similar) do not have enough I/O. Applications: MEMs closed loop control (make a tiny robot/device and get it to move using piezos, static electricity or plain electromagnets), sensing of electrical signals from muscles/brain, environment monitoring, ultrasound.
    • Hackers PDA: a PDA with large Hex buttons and auxiliary buttons around the screen (one can enter ASCII letters with two keypresses - beats phones and writing), with several multimeter channels (using TI chips for example), several relay controls, and multiple digital I/O ports that double as compact flash or SD slots.
    1. Re:Just what can it do ? by smellsofbikes · · Score: 3, Interesting

      >Such a board is possible (and relatively easy) to design by an amateur - but very expensive to make as it would have to be 6 layers and require soldering BGA chips.

      I have a few tips from personal experience. You can get multilayer boards built fairly inexpensively if you can justify having four made at one time: you might be looking at under $80/board for a 6-layer (although I'm not positive about that. I know you can get 4 layer done for under $60/board.)
      It's possible, although unpleasant, to reflow your own BGA's. You need a microscope with a tilt-head. Draw the BGA package outline in the layout software as a silkscreen, making sure it's at least as large as the actual package, or even better, draw several outlines of increasing size. Align the BGA visually within the closest package size, double-check by looking at the edge with bright illumination and a microscope to make sure you're basically on-pad, then gently reflow it down with a heat gun. It works best if you can preheat the board from the bottom with one heat gun on low, then do the reflow from the top with the second one.
      I'm doing this at work with microSMD, which are way, way smaller than BGA -- chips 3mm on a side with 12 bumps on the bottom. After a bit of work I have a 70% success rate. The main thing I've found is that while you're reflowing, you'll see the chip move as the capillary action of the solder pulls it into place. Very, very lightly touch the chip on one edge with a probe. If it rocks, the center isn't yet reflowed and it's pivoting on the as-of-yet-solid bumps. When the whole chip bounces like a spring on all the melted bumps, rather than rocking, then it should be good.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
  12. Re:more interesting.. by SQLGuru · · Score: 3, Informative

    These also look pretty cool....(be sure to use the quantity modifier on the prices):
    http://www.compulab.co.il/all-products/html/products.htm

    Layne

  13. Blo(c)ktroni(x|cs) by Animaether · · Score: 3, Interesting

    yeah, I don't recall how it was spelled (I know I have a box of them here somewhere, but they're behind all kinds of other youth memory crap), and I don't know if they were the Philips equivalents - but they appear similar to the Denshi Block stuff and they were good fun (no corroded bits that I ever encountered).

    Both, at least, allowed anybody to build simple to reasonably-complex electronic devices without the need for either A. soldering or B. pushing the components into little metal strips of a 'base board', leading to all kinds of problems, especially at younger ages.

    The major down side that I ran into was that whatever you built - it ended up rather big. The blocks where maybe 2cm on each side for the simple components (a speaker would be 3x3x1 block in size, etc.).