LitteBits, maker of simple, easy to build electronics kits, has announced what they’re calling the Cloud Module, a small, Internet-connected block that lets you build standalone projects using the kit’s Lego-style connection system.
The kits themselves are marketed as toys and, in a large part, they are. To build a circuit you simply pick out a battery block with magnetic leads, find a wire or connector block, and connect an LED or motor. Unlike the electronics kits of old – remember the ones with the little spring leads? – you simply snap everything together and turn them on.
This isn’t just greasy kids’ stuff, though, as we see from this video featuring Reggie Watts and a synth kit made out of LittleBits blocks. The entire LittleBits project is open source so you can build your own LittleBits modules without buying the kits.
“This module is the easiest and fastest way to create internet-connected devices. You may have heard about the Internet of Things — the concept that our everyday devices are smarter, connected to the internet, and connected to each other,” wrote CEO Ayah Bdeir in a release. “This module takes one of the biggest revolutions of our time, the internet, and turns it into a building block.”
Information regarding the cloud module is a bit thin right now but it’s been promised that you will be able to connect your electronics projects to the web without programming, an inspiring and tempting offer for tinkerers. In a world where STEM education and general electronics tinkering has been surpassed by Ruby on Rails and VC dinners, it’s a beautiful thing to see something as simple as LittleBits grow.