littleBits are like Legos for circuit boards

Here's a fun, not-completely-original, but still-pretty-neat idea: littleBits. Tiny, pre-assembled circuit boards that create a library of mix-and-match electronic components for building that next amazing wonder widget. Oh, and they're open source. The "blocks" snap together via magnets, and there's an ever-growing selection of modules to choose from. The project is still in its infancy, but we're expecting to see some good work from Joe Hacker Guy on the DIY scene, or anybody else too afraid to pick up a soldering iron, once these arrive at some sort of retail availability. An intro video is after the break.

[zomg0t @ Aug 12th 2008 6:33PM]

how bout you guys get a life instead of attempting first posts.

turn off your computer.

sound familiar?

[Ayman @ Aug 12th 2008 6:46PM]

Replicators!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ntw1103 @ Aug 12th 2008 8:01PM]

sshhh, don't give them any ideas...
sg ftw.

[giuliop @ Aug 12th 2008 6:47PM]

Nice video, shame about the song.

[Catsceo @ Aug 12th 2008 7:52PM]

That song was awesome!

[Marc Salameh @ Aug 13th 2008 8:51AM]

@ guiliop
hey STFU

[austinmichaelcraig @ Aug 14th 2008 2:31PM]

Ha! Marc, I liked the song. I'm trying to find more, where should I look?

[Ayman @ Aug 12th 2008 6:48PM]

Why do I get the feeling one day somebody will fall into a BIG pile of those LittleBits and get out as a cyborg that wants to destroy us all

[MioTheGreat @ Aug 12th 2008 10:14PM]

It wouldn't surprise me.

Just last week, I reached into my misc. electronics crap box (Where I throw everything when I'm too lazy to sort it back into its proper resistor/capacitor/etc. bin), and my hand has been assimilating shit left and right ever since.

[Reader @ Aug 13th 2008 12:25AM]

Shit, I hope I'm that guy.

[evplasmaman @ Aug 12th 2008 6:54PM]

Cool idea but it would be nice if THEY DIDN'T USE WHITE TEXT ON A WHITE BACKGROUND!

ops caps....

[Kevin Friedemann @ Aug 12th 2008 7:36PM]

I'm with you there.....

Awesome idea though. Where can I get em. :)

[Ricardo Sampaio @ Aug 12th 2008 6:57PM]

This can be very educational. I'm a Digital Electronics / robotics teacher and i think it can be a good way to introduce the basics.

[Rogan josh @ Aug 13th 2008 12:14AM]

YOU'RE a Digital Teacher???!?!? Whoa! looks like these things have already assimilated someone...

[ShyGuy91284 @ Aug 12th 2008 7:11PM]

Reminds me of those spring terminal electronic kits radio shack used to (and maybe still does?) sell that came with instructions and wires on how to connect all the components together via the springs to make various things happen.

[prime @ Aug 12th 2008 7:12PM]

want some now.................maybe combine with my lego mindstorm

[ntw1103 @ Aug 12th 2008 7:12PM]

Lego, not legos.... lol
I think those things could be lots of fun. I would have loved them when I was a bit younger. now I can make stuff easily enough. still, probably great for kids.
(and don't down my post because I use Lego over Legos, the Lego company says to call their bricks lego.)

[Rehehelly @ Aug 12th 2008 7:41PM]

That's because Lego is the correct term :P

I'd of loved this when I was a kid.

[däniel @ Aug 12th 2008 7:40PM]

Legos... it hurts my eyes.. ;) beat me to it!

[John Cavanagh @ Aug 12th 2008 7:52PM]

Actually there is no plural of the word Lego. Lego is the company name, and in a 1980 catalogue they clarified that Lego should be used as an adjective. Uses: Lego bricks, Lego toys, Lego bocks, etc.

[John Cavanagh @ Aug 12th 2008 7:54PM]

Actually there is no plural of the word Lego. Lego is the company name, and in a 1980 catalogue they clarified that Lego should be used as an adjective. Uses: Lego bricks, Lego toys, Lego bocks, etc.

(sorry if this double posts, compy went wonky)

[Rogan josh @ Aug 13th 2008 12:19AM]

LEGO is a contraction of the Danish words, "Leg Godt" or, in English, "Play Well"... as if you cared, so it can't be contracted......

...like other diseases, it must first be introduced into the bloodstream through a convenient tear in a membrane or orifice.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 13th 2008 2:50AM]

"Actually there is no plural of the word Lego. Lego is the company name"

Every proper noun (such as a company name) has a plural, including the Legos of this world. Its additional use as an adjective doesn't restrict its original use a noun...

[Gingerwerewolf @ Aug 13th 2008 5:30AM]

The word "Lego" is both the plural and the singular. Like many other words the plural is the same spelling.

Sheep, fish and deer eg 0ne sheep, two sheep One deer, two deer etc

When I was young I played with loads and loads of lego! :) See it even sounds better!

[Joshua Walters @ Aug 12th 2008 7:35PM]

I think the initial idea was probably geared more towards people to young to use a soldering iron (but seriously, is there such a thing?)

However, I just dont see to many 8 year olds all that interested in building circuits.

[chimpoid @ Aug 13th 2008 2:28AM]

"However, I just dont see to many 8 year olds all that interested in building circuits."

I built a protocol droid at that age, sadly it turned against me with the help of a smal R2 unit and a band of rebel scum.

[Phoenix @ Aug 13th 2008 2:44AM]

To be honest, I don't trust myself with a soldering iron and I'm 23, but that's because I've got enough scars from (purely accidental) self-inflicted wounds to last me a lifetime.

But I'd love to get my hands on these things... I could spend hours upon hours tinkering with them, building stuff and then destroying it to build something else, and also building stuff with my four year old niece who's mind's sharp as a whip and who would love this sort of thing.

[broli @ Aug 12th 2008 7:48PM]

zomg0t, aren't you the ironic one always being the first to bash the firsties with offtopic shit. You'd think you're the one that does nothing else than bash them asap and feel like you did something humanity would appreciate. Unless you're paid to do so you're the one who should not only turn off your computer but shove it up your ass too and say "Dad are you proud of me now."

[zomg0t @ Aug 12th 2008 7:58PM]

broli, aren't you the little bitch I pwned a few days ago for failing hard in a first post? I thought you got over it but I was sorely mistaken. You'd think you're the one that does nothing else than attempt to get first posts, bash those that produce slightly more sane posts, and feel like you did something humanity would appreciate. Unless you get off to your worthless posts you're the one who should not only turn off your computer but shove it up your ass too and say "Dad, I'm sorry I can't spell 'first', please don't rape me again."

[Mr. Clever-Clever @ Aug 12th 2008 8:09PM]

I had a lot of fun with a big box of these components. I don't know much about electronics but I do like magnets and as the company says, magnets are fun!
I dumped the box of littleBits on the table and they were all stuck together in a big ball because of the magnets and all. After a few seconds, the light at the end of the circuit started to glow brighter and brighter and the electric motor started to turn faster and faster. So I watched the light get brighter and the motor turn faster until I got bored and pushed the tangle of electronics off the edge of the table back into the box.
Later, I wondered what I had accidentally created. It created power with no source of power...
So I dumped the box onto the table to see what would be created. I'm not sure what it was, but it called me a "blood orange" and ran out the back door.
Just great! That cost me $150.00! What a waste... Customer Service was a joke! They thought I was an Apple FanBoy!
Oh well, I gotta go, Judge Judys on...

[thatrotierkid @ Aug 12th 2008 8:37PM]

the jumble of parts called him a "blood orange" and then ran out the door. ill tell you the story at 11.

nhanimator you should know what i am talking about

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 12th 2008 8:24PM]

The first part of your comment was fine and would have ranked you up, but it's the fact that you used the other word that puts you down.

[zomg0t @ Aug 12th 2008 8:41PM]

@I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY

That's respectable. I just find it annoying to see a first post when I'm expecting something intellectual and worth contributing to articles I find interesting. And then there are people like broli, who fervently defend themselves and others who post equivalent trash. I just have to put him in his place or else he'll never learn, however, it seems like a lost cause with broli: he must know he's wrong, but he refuses to admit it or change his ways.

[Nightstar @ Aug 12th 2008 8:45PM]

Back around 1968 to 1969 I had a set of modules from Raython. Each was about the size of a stamp and about 1/2 tall of that. Each connected by a brass plate which had a magnet behind it. You assembled it on a metal plate. had from two to 5 of these pads per small block.

AKA nothing new...

[Rincewind @ Aug 13th 2008 4:53AM]

I had a set of those, although I seem to remember them as being a bit bigger than stamps. Maybe it's just that I was smaller then. They had clear sides so you could see the components and a white top with the circuit diagram printed on it, showing the linking points to complete the circuit. I thought is was great! Played with it for years, and passed it on to a younger cousin who showed an interest in it (I had graduated to the soldering-iron stage by then.)

[Shadyman @ Aug 12th 2008 10:02PM]

omg!

FAIL!

[ezra @ Aug 12th 2008 10:42PM]

Anyone remember a show on Nickelodeon about miniature people with this exact same name?

[CHRISwinchurch @ Aug 13th 2008 2:29AM]

Arduino + breadboard, anyone?

[deadlyhifi @ Aug 13th 2008 3:58AM]

The plural of Lego, is Lego! It's a product name.
More than one story on Engadget does not make me say "do you read Engadgets?"
Singlular would be Lego brick > Lego bricks.

[John Strickland @ Aug 13th 2008 8:06AM]

There is more than one engadget though. If I were to read the mobile page and the regular page I would call it engadgets.

[Monkey King @ Aug 13th 2008 11:43AM]

It reminds me of a toy I had when I was a kid. They were electronic building blocks used to inspire the cold-war youth of the 1960s. It was a set of bricks that had wiring diagrams etched onto their white plastic tops. You placed the blocks next to each other in a tray and made what looked like a wiring diagram...except the device worked because each brick was either a connector (wire) or a device (switch, speaker, dial, radio crystal, etc).



It was made or at least put out in the US by Raytheon...you know the people who make radars & missiles. I'm not sure I would take on Raytheon in a patent infringement fight, they could bomb you into the stoneage or cook you alive with microwaves.



Since nobody is going to o believe Raytheon put out a toy I will supply a link http://www.retrothing.com/2007/03/electronic_domi.html

[paul-engadget @ Aug 13th 2008 4:16PM]

I believe you, I had a variant of this myself, the Denshi Block Electronics Kit or something like that. A white base had a matrix of squares with slots at each edge, each component occupied one, two or four blocks. Components had legs which dropped into the slots, and circuits were metal straps.
You could make radios, audio amplifiers, oscillators, light flashers etc.

I still have it with the manuals, the original packaging got lost I think. It probably still works too, there's not a lot to go wrong. When my son is old enough I'll dig it out.

[Glen @ Aug 13th 2008 3:29PM]

I had these, but mine were blocks, over 30 years ago

[McFly @ Aug 13th 2008 8:59PM]

would be cool if kinderSurprise chocolate eggs each contained one of these bits instead of they crapy toys they seem to be producing now, i remember you could get cool stuff... what happened to them? :(