BUG - "The LEGO of Gadgets"

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.

Comments

Looking forward to the teleporter

[whyloginwhysubscribe]

But worrying about it being vaporous...

Overhyped?

[AKAImBatman]

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. :-)

Didn't we already do this...

[INeededALogin]

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.

Re:more interesting..

[mabhatter654]

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

http://www.gumstix.com/

Re:Not to be captain buzzkill, but...

[Lijemo]

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 =^)

Re:more interesting..Here's What You Want!

[slas6654]

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

Whatever happened to LEGO of electronics?

[autophile]

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

Just what can it do ?

[Ruie]

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.