The Lego craze may have quieted over the past 81 years, but the toys continue to shine their brilliance on young and old alike. The more than 400 billion blocks out in the world have shown us how playing with our imagination can make learning fun.
Like Lego, littleBits Electronics is on a mission. It wants to give the world appendable toys that help make electronics and circuitry builds an easy, fun, and educational experience for all creative people.
Ayah Bdeir, the founder of littleBits, was always interested in science and engineering growing up in Lebanon. Naturally, she gravitated toward an education in engineering. After getting her master's degree from the MIT Media Lab, she began to see that much of the world did not get enough exposure to the technological world behind the electronics that surround our everyday lives. She built her company with an eye toward lessening the intimidating nature of electronics.
The cutesy looking design littleBits toys pack quite a creative potential for innovators of all ages. (Source: littleBits Electronics)
LittleBits bills itself as "an open-source library of electronic modules that snap together with magnets for prototyping, learning, and fun." The latest littleBits platform v0.3 offers a wide array of electronic blocks. The magnetic connections ensure that current always flows in the right direction (and that components don't fry).
The blocks are grouped into four different categories: power, input, output, and wiring. The color-coded, neatly packaged, and well-labeled components include wall power adapters, buttons, dimmers, light sensors, bend sensors, pressure sensors, motion triggers, LEDs, fans, servo motors, wires, logic gates... the list goes on. For such a cutesy looking design, the toys pack quite a creative potential for innovators of all ages.
Bdeir told us she hopes that, like Lego, littleBits changes the way we think about educating our children. Schools have been known to limit imaginative learning with strict curricula and an emphasis on high-stakes testing. Learning through playing allows one to experiment and become engaged in a boundless world of possibility. Perhaps more entrepreneurial efforts of this sort will enlighten schools to get back to being fun.
LittleBits kits are available in four sizes: a three-piece Teaser Kit ($29), a seven-piece Holiday Kit ($49), a 10-piece Starter Kit ($89), and a 14-piece Extended Kit ($149). Individual components are also available for purchase on the company's website.
A good recollection, Charles. I can recall visiting some science fairs in the late 1950's and early 1960"s and seeing various computational functions executed in hard-coded relay logic. And I have seen some of the older industrical control panels with a hundred or more of the little "ice cube" type relays, all running some fairly complex machines. Those were more the logic type of relays, while the cast-offs that I had were more toward the power types, with contacts designed to switch ten amp loads all day long.
Indeed, Chuck. And it also gives kids an idea of what they are interested in at an early age, leading them down the right path vocationally. Hopefully this leads them to a fitting and fulfilling career. If kids become interested in engineering early through clever toys, it might save them time later on deciding what they want to do with their life.
How many electrical engineering careers were also initiated from a Heathkit set? I think 'toys' like this will continue to have a positive impact on educational learning.
My education about electricity and circuits began with building simple sequencing circuits using cast-off Allen Bradley control relays. They were easy to understand since all of the contacts were in the open, easy to watch as they opened and closed. And all of it ran on 110 volts AC power, so there were no batteries to go dead on me. The designs were noisy and sparky and quite entertaining to a nine-year-old, and they amazed my friends who came to watch them work. What a great way to recycle industrial controls parts that weere just a bit obsolete. Later on I did get one of those educational electronic kits that made a bunch of different projects. I don't think that anyone worried about the 150 volts DC power that they used, and I know that I didn't get shocked by it while using it, so it must have been safe, somehow.
KreO has Transformers and GIJOE. I have to say, that may be a trump card.
If KreO had the same level of robotics tinkering LEGO does, the Transformers sets would be amazing. But as Nadine said, they can be used with LEGO, so perhaps there is hope for auto-transforming toys.
The only downside to this littleBits is that all the boards just click together in a proprietary way. There is no hands on configuring, like breadboards, etc. It still removes the kid from realizing, these circuits have to be constructed, each part.
I will admit, most engineering is based off on modules these days. So, may it's just a sign of the times.
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