>The gist: I'm basically applying encapsulation to circuitry, so that gadgets, in this case a Linux-running computer, can be built in a quick, mix-and-match style. Fast hardware prototyping becomes significantly easier, so that effort can be concentrated on the software development. For example, on the page linked below, I put a few demos such as a rapidly implemented automatic plant-watering device.
>The (3D-printed) boxes of the blocks are openable, and repairable of course when needed. Also playing an important role in this particular video is the compact Raspberry Pi Compute Module, which contains the minimum brains of the full Raspberry Pi board.
> Fast hardware prototyping becomes significantly easier, so that effort can be concentrated on the software development.
There's no doubt that it's very appealing as a product and a huge amount of work and love has been into it, but I'm struggling to understand the use case. People who spend time doing hardware prototyping, or software development for custom hardware, surely aren't going to be fazed by just using an actual Raspberry Pi (with Wi-Fi, bluetooth, MicroSD slot, dual HDMI out, Ethernet, USB (2 and 3), etc. already built in) and using a couple of pre-built HATs, or some DuPont connectors to a peripheral from an established provider. You would end up with something much easier to scale up or reproduce, probably for much less money. To my mind, the major benefit seems to be the encapsulation - effectively automatic custom housings.
I remember when Google presented their Ada(?) modular phone concept, I was really excited. But the commenters on HN were really convincingly telling me and the others that liked the concept that it couldn't happen. Basically unsolvable problem and the phone would be too thick. And right, Google immediately gave up. So it was impossible I thought. And now you see this, made by one guy I think. It was not impossible at all.
This reminds me somewhat of Project Ara[0], that modular phone project Google was looking into. Interesting to see a similar concept (albeit more niche) being built out further, especially since it's not tied to any major company. Looks quite cool.
It's cool, the video is clean and it's an impressive piece of hardware overall but what's the real usefulness about this product? It looks fragile and it'll cost a lot more than anything you can attach to a raspberry pi.
With a normal computer you may want to swap the screen or adding a Bluetooth dongle. But in this case, you buy one of this boards to make a project, you don't buy it for the sake of it and a few months later think what you are going to do with it.
[+] [-] asicsp|5 years ago|reply
>The gist: I'm basically applying encapsulation to circuitry, so that gadgets, in this case a Linux-running computer, can be built in a quick, mix-and-match style. Fast hardware prototyping becomes significantly easier, so that effort can be concentrated on the software development. For example, on the page linked below, I put a few demos such as a rapidly implemented automatic plant-watering device.
>The (3D-printed) boxes of the blocks are openable, and repairable of course when needed. Also playing an important role in this particular video is the compact Raspberry Pi Compute Module, which contains the minimum brains of the full Raspberry Pi board.
[+] [-] tweetle_beetle|5 years ago|reply
There's no doubt that it's very appealing as a product and a huge amount of work and love has been into it, but I'm struggling to understand the use case. People who spend time doing hardware prototyping, or software development for custom hardware, surely aren't going to be fazed by just using an actual Raspberry Pi (with Wi-Fi, bluetooth, MicroSD slot, dual HDMI out, Ethernet, USB (2 and 3), etc. already built in) and using a couple of pre-built HATs, or some DuPont connectors to a peripheral from an established provider. You would end up with something much easier to scale up or reproduce, probably for much less money. To my mind, the major benefit seems to be the encapsulation - effectively automatic custom housings.
[+] [-] throwawaygimp|5 years ago|reply
That said, it's not just the modern tooling and cheap production services. This guy is clearly a tallanted wizard. Bravo sir, amazing.
[+] [-] onli|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lacavao|5 years ago|reply
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara
[+] [-] alpanka|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] tbdr|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EccentricBunny|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eddhead|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dgellow|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkaic|5 years ago|reply