Rapid prototyping and experimentation at all levels – including creative play – may never be the same.
Think if you took the modular building elements of Lego and applied this concept to circuits, but did so by mounting each circuit on a magnetized base so that only the proper ends would attract and join – preventing you from arranging the various circuits in a sequence where they won’t function. You are free to experiment and build with the added check of this in-built forced alignment.
For precocious kids and savvy young learners, experimenting and learning are much easier and safer. For designers and engineers, creating simple prototypes of working machines is easier meaning earlier and rapid iterations.
littleBits, a growing library of preassembled circuitboards, made easy by tiny magnets!
littleBits is an opensource library of discrete electronic components pre-assembled in tiny circuit boards. Just as Legos allow you to create complex structures with very little engineering knowledge, littleBits are simple, intuitive, space-sensitive blocks that make prototyping with sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together. With a growing number of available modules, littleBits aims to move electronics from late stages of the design process to its earliest ones, and from the hands of experts, to those of artists, makers and designers. littlebits
littlebits is the work of Ayah Bdeir, a graduate from MIT’s Media Lab and the American University of Beirut.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/1384026[/vimeo]
