Bug Labs launch party
I went to a party for Bug Labs, a New York based startup that is launching a modular portable hardware development platform. The core of the system is a very compact, powerful, Linux-based computer. It’s housed in a slick plastic case with four modular connectors that let you easily add modules. Right now these include a motion sensor, GPS, camera and LCD touchscreen, with more on the way.
It seems like a way of making development of electronic gadgets as easy and modular as software development. The whole project seems to be strongly informed by the Open Source movement, with most (all?) technical information readily available. Everything about the project seems very slick, very professionally developed.
I especially like the software development environment: it is built as a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE, and includes a “Virtual BUG”, a full emulation of the Bug in software. Even the modules are emulated, though with some limitations: for example, the virtual camera will actually return images saved on your hard drive, the GPS module will return a pre-recorded data set. However, this should be enough for most actual software development.
Here is a screenshot of the BUG SDK in Eclipse showing the Virtual BUG:
This seems like a project with great potential. I’d like to see availability of more experiment-friendly modules, eg. a solderless breadboard, analog inputs, etc. Maybe even a way of integrating the Arduino microcontroller as a peripheral, since so much work has already been done on connecting that to various sensors.
