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BUGlabs and ECCO: more to come.

By Carl Alviani - January 23, 2009

in Tech | Object Culture

The current IDEO-driven round of open-access concept development is just the latest in a long line of innovations for the uber-gadgety BUG system we blogged about earlier today. The modular electronic prototyping kit has been racking up awards and rave reviews since its debut at CES 2008 (including the coveted CNET Best of CES award), due in part to the unprecedented nature of its function, but also because of its elegant interface and design.

Much of the credit for that goes to long-time BUGlabs collaborator ECCO Design, who have been the primary creative force behind the system's development for the past two years.

Turns out this is just the start, too. The collection of BUGbase and five plug-in modules currently available on the site (camera, motion sensor, GPS, video screen and breakout board) just got augmented with the announcement at this year's CES of five more, including a projector, speaker/mic combo and three flavors of wireless networking radios. Long term plans call for 80 or more modules in all, with new ones being added constantly via a little open-source idea list on the BUGlabs website. ECCO also promises a full QWERTY keyboard and GSM module:

plus some other goodies like double-wide LCDs and an E-Ink module for which no pics are yet available.

Fairly specific video intro to the BUGbase is after the jump (turns out it's really a tiny battery-powered Linux computer), and loads more info is available on the BUGlabs website.

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Looks Nice

15 years ago

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My question is more a basic one. Is the business sustainable? Can they sell enough Bug bases to stay afloat?
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Kashif

15 years ago

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Ian -great points. But I see some of the objections you raise as, in fact, the strengths of the Bug. The Bug device allows you to purchase a BUGbase once and then keep "upgrading" your device's functionality by simply purchasing (relatively) cheaper modules.

What happens when your 2 MegaPixel cellphone camera gets upstaged by a 3 MegaPixel cellphone camera? With Bug, you can simply keep upgrading via these building blocks and not worry about your main device's obsolescence (my guess - I don't know what the evil geniuses at Bug Labs are plotting).

The fun part for me though is that I can program my Bug to do things that are specific to MY need. I can purchase the modules that make sense for MY purposes - not be stereotyped by Apple or Palm into a group. For example, I might have a need for a video camera on my cell phone, but because Apple's marketing study didn't find enough people interested in that function, the iPhone doesn't have this capability. But I like it because at least it allows for DIGITAL customization (meaning I can download apps that fit my need). In one sense, I see BUG as enabling PHYSICAL customization by allowing users to plug 'n play functional modules.

I might also argue that this modularity allows for the ultimate convergence device (which is ironic because this can also be viewed as a VERY divergent device). Presumably with Bug, I can plug in an MP3 module and a cell phone module and take the BUG with me on a jog. And then plug in a GPS module, and a large screen module on a road trip. And so on. I don't have to carry multiple devices. Now only if the device was slimmer and more compact...

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Ian

15 years ago

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I guess I just don't really understand this thing...and you guys keep reporting on it. At a certain point this modularity becomes pointless. As technology gets smaller, the more gadgets we can combine. Our phones are now pretty good cameras, and they work pretty well as internet surfers and most have keyboards already built in somehow. All the pieces associated with this little linux computer seem like great things to lose or forget to pack. The whole gadget will become obsolete right after you buy your last module. It sort of reminds me of all the add-ons I bought for my iPod, like the microphone, the fm transmitter, the remote. When my iPod died, I replaced it with a newer version that was incompatible with all the gizmos that I barely got to use.
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