Microsoft .NET Gadgeteer
I’m back with my Microsoft propaganda, this time with .NET Gadgeteer. This platform has been shown before, and more recently it was the topic of a much appreciated workshop at TEI 2011. This work comes out of Microsoft Research Cambridge, more specifically from Nic Villar, James Scott and Steve Hodges. The project was previously named Dragonfly, but will now appear in the public world as Microsoft .NET Gadgeteer. Here is how the authors describe it:
… a rapid prototyping platform for small electronic gadgets and embedded hardware devices. It combines the advantages of object-oriented programming, solderless assembly of electronics using a kit of hardware modules, and quick physical enclosure fabrication using computer-aided design.
The work builds on and extends the .NET Micro Framework. It runs on a large set of hardware some of which are quite powerful. Think of an Arduino with large display capabilities (VGA/DVI output), rich graphics, runtime debugging and multi-threading power. The platform comes with numerous sensors and modules, and the necessary breakout boards if you need to interface with a special piece of hardware not in the kit.
What is super interesting and valuable in my opinion is that they consider the whole process of building functional prototypes. Part of the project is a CAD library of parts that makes it quite easy and fast to build enclosures for the electronics. Fitting parts and modules into a existing object, or producing a custom case via laser-cutter or 3D printing is much simpler than fitting everything manually. It is possible to have high-quality interactive projects that don’t look like a bunch of wires, jut in a matter of hours or just a few days.
No words on price and availability just yet, but it seems it will be largely available in the coming months (spring 2011).
If the above video doesn’t play properly, you can watch it directly on the Channel 9 MSDN blog post
