EVER WONDERED how lights snap on when you switch the button on, or what really happens when you crank the car engine and how it really translates to motion?Well, most of us don’t know or really care how things work and why they work and the finer science or the underlying technology that make things happens. A new study recently said that while we spend about 7.5 hours every day with tech devices, most us don’t know how they work. We also fail to appreciate the great researchers who have toiled hard to make their inventions commonplace.
LittleBits, a New York-based startup founded in September 2011 had a focused mission statement — to turn everyone into an inventor by making electronics accessible as a “material”. LittleBits is an “open source library” of electronic modules which simply snap fit into each other with tiny magnets — and can be used for fun or some serious stuff like making working prototypes — somewhat similar to Lego!
The company is building a community of contributors that can redesign, share it online and learn from each other’s creativity and hence the term open source! The “bits” or “kits” are small and simple lil’ circuit-boards which have unique functions such as light, sound, motor, pulse etc and which need no wiring, or soldering or programming for use — simply take one bit or kit and snap it with another to achieve your end game of a larger working model.
One can create very intricate and complex models and structures, with almost no technical knowhow. LittleBits are lil’, intuitive, blocks that assist making sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together — one can call it an electronic Lego which help spark kids and grown-ups’ fancy who dream big and visualize larger working prototypes. With a growing library of available modules, LittleBits aims to move electronics from inventors and educators to commoners like hobbyists, students, designers, you and me!
LilttleBits, a company founded by Ayah Bdeir, who holds a Masters degree from the MIT Media Lab, who was a recipient of the prestigious TED Fellowship as one of 25 global innovators in 2012, has recently received a thumbs up by way of funding of $3.65 Mn led by True Ventures and a partnership with PCH International for producing LittleBit products. Ayah proudly states “we want to encourage a world of creators, of inventors, of contributors because this interactive world is ours!”
The world needs this little bit of help, especially the tech challenged ones….
—prashant.vadgaonkar@hotmail.com
