ThinkGeek are now selling BUGLabs. BUG’s are various items which can either secure things, track things with GPS, read barcodes, draw pictures, update Twitter and control robots. The BUGS snap together in a modular type way and once connected you create some simple JAVA to control the devices. The system is open-source meaning you also get access to a bunch of enthusiastic developers.
Because BUG is open-source, it doesn’t impede your creativity. If you’ve got an idea for a gadget, it’s easy to throw it together. For example, your garden is being chomped on by some unseen entity. Snap a motion-detector and a camera onto the BUGbase, write some Java, and you’ve got gadget that’ll catch the family of deer that roams through your yard. Unhappy with Google maps street view? Snap on the GPS module and the camera, and code your BUG to take geotagged photos at specific intervals and roll your own. Got an RC helicopter? Snap on the vonHippel breakout-board module and the touch-screen module and code an interface to fly your helicopter on your BUG. Are you a cartographer? Snap the GPS and the touch-screen modules on, a smidgen of Java, walk to the corners of your property, and bang zoom, you’ve got a map.
They look like quite cool learning gadgets and well worth picking up if you are interested in robots or controlling things through programming.
BUGLabs Features
* Open-source linux-based gadget-creation platform
* Modular architecture lets you snap on expansion-devices as needed
BUGbundle includes:
* BUGbase 1.2 “Hiro P” Edition
* BUGview touchscreen module
* BUGmotion accelerometer and motion detector module
* BUGlocate GPS module with remote antenna
* BUGvonHippel breakout module
Available from ThinkGeek costing $579 (only a few in stock apparently)
this would be so awesome. problem is that regular joe schmoe won’t be able to make it work.. so wondering if they’d build a simpler way to manipulate the code than jsut by java.
“Hiro P” edition? Nice. 😀