Once you’ve built your droid, it’s going to look much less sleek than the movie replica droids Sphero makes: the transparent shell, necessary for keeping the Bits visible, will always look a bit cheap to most. ![]() Sphero's R2-D2 is a worthy rival to littleBits' Kit But the light plastic material ensures that even if a piece falls, it doesn’t break. On the other hand, other pieces like the legs and head easily pop off should you drop your droid from any height or hold it at an odd angle it happened enough times over the course of a few days to be slightly aggravating. Even a young child should have the strength to slide the pieces into place - however, some pieces, once secured, are very difficult to remove even with adult strength, so be prepared to step in to help. Outside of the electronics, putting these pieces together (or taking them apart) only takes about five to ten minutes. You attach those bits to the plastic pieces that eventually comprise Artoo’s body. Each Bit sports large text descriptions so you know what you’re holding, as well as magnetized “bitsnap” pins that snap bits together (or repel those that shouldn’t connect). Get them now at droid’s robotic soul rests in six tiny electronic bits: the power source, proximity sensor, control hub, DC motor, servomechanism, and connective wires. Wiwet ASP.Net templates are integrated into Visual Studio for ease of use. Build responsive ASP.NET web apps quickly and easily using C# or VB for any device in 1 minute. Sponsor: Big thanks to Wiwet for sponsoring the feed this week. Click them and share them to support the blog and the work I do, writing this blog on my own time. *Amazon links are referral links on my blog. Here are some fantastic examples of other Star Wars related littleBits projects for you to explore: ![]() It's a great setup, a fun kit, and something that kids 8-14 will use all the time. The instructions are great and we a had remote-controlled robot that could drive around the room running within an hour. We got the " Gizmos & Gadgets" kit which is a little spendy, but it includes 15 bits that enables you to do basically anything. Once we stopped being "afraid" to use these stickers and adhesives, suddenly little projects became semi-permanent technical art installations. I initially tried to attach littleBits with rubber bands and strings but realized that they'd smartly included "glue dots" and Velcro as well as 3M adhesive pads. One of the aspects of littleBits that I think is powerful but that wasn't immediately obvious to me is that you shouldn't be afraid to use glue or more permanent attachments with your projects. The 8 year old wanted to show his Star Wars Blaster/Fan combo made with #videoĪ video posted by Scott Hanselman on at 8:13pm PST In just about 20 minutes my 8 year old was able to take a LEGO custom Star Wars Blaster and add totally new functionality like lights and sounds. You start with a power bit, then add an "if" statement like a switch, then move to do a "do" statement like a motor or light or whatever. ![]() The genius here is that the magnet only goes one way (because: magnets) and the connector underlying transmits both power and data. The key to littleBits is their magic magnet that makes it basically impossible to do something wrong or hurt yourself. There are also specific kits for specific interests like a littleBits Musical Electronics Synth Kit and a littleBits Smart Home Kit that include specific littleBits that extend the base kit. LittleBits (usually a lowercase L) jumps up a layer of abstraction and includes motors, motion detectors, LED arrays, and lots more. Frankly, I wish my first EE (Electrical Engineering) class in college was taught with SnapCircuits. It doesn't hide the complexities of volts and amps and includes low-level components like resistors. ![]() SnapCircuits boldly has kids as young as three or four creating circuitry from a simple light and switch all the way up to a solar-powered radio or a burglar/door alarm. He loved SnapCircuits so littleBits seemed like a reasonable, if slightly higher-level, option. The 8 year old (recently 7, now barely 8) has been playing with littleBits lately and having a blast.
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