Button brain

This design concept project explored the potential to offer Internet of Things capabilities to children, through an ultra-low cost construction set. The central communications processor, "Button Brain", would be cheap enough to give away on the cover of a magazine, and robust enough to be nailed to a tree, glued to a wall, or attached to a dog's collar. Peripherals using energy harvesting could pull strings or make water flow. A typically playful use case was "imagine how could you surprise a squirrel".

Project team:

• Alan Blackwell
• Saar Drimer
• Jeff Osborne
• Robert Mullins

Advisers:

• Mark Gross