Make Thingz : discover Thingz kit

A tour of Thingz electronic modular kit.

What is thingz ?

You probably know many applications with arduinos and sensors. Arduinos changes the approach of electronic and embedeed software. I remember, just 15 years ago when I studied electronics expensive devices, with unreadable code and also cross compilation combined to a JTAG connector. Yargh !

Those arduinos starter kit are interesting, for someone who has some skills and, sometimes, patience to read boring documentation.

And wiring can be ugly, painfull and not easy to understand. Why we need a resistor for a LED ? hum...

Thingz removed all wiring. Yes, there is no wire. Only bricks like legos :

You are totally free of wiring, you can plug each element wherever you want, turn it, move it when it runs... It works like a Lego.

It also came with a familiar development program : Scratch.

It is a perfect initiation to electronics for everyone. If you're familiar with arduino code, you can switch to a developer mode :

And of course, it runs in your browser.

A kit contains some bricks. Those bricks can also been purchased individually. Bluetooth, sensors, buttons, leds... each one has a particular use. Combine them one the board, the device discover itself which bricks are plugged.

Let's checkout a kit directly on Thingz.co !

Cyril gave me a kit with some bricks in. Thanks to him ! Let see how we can build with this.

I have :

• a board. It has 7x12=84 holes
• 2 leds
• 2 buttons
• A temperature and humidity sensor
• A movement sensor
• A light sensor
• A 433 mghz emitter and a 220V plug
• A buzzer
• A sensitive sensor
• A potentiometer
• A 6 lines LCD screen

A copy/paste board

Just 2 push buttons :

Button 1 copy, button 2 paste !

Cool, isn't it ?

A weather checker

Only the weather sensor is plugged on the board.

It will send me an email when the weather is cold, or the rain approch...

Led switch is used as a tempo, for 86400 seconds => one day

Build an unlocker for my computer

For this project I use : a LED, 2 buttons, a potentiometer and the screen.

I want a device that can store passwords for me, and type them. It is a sort of vault. Because I do not have any memory inside, I stored directly datas in the code.

How it will run :

• Ask for a pincode. The pincode is entered with a potentiometer for number (0 to 9) selection. To validate a number, use a button
• If the pincode is incorrect, restart process.
• If the pincode is correct, unlock it
• Use the potentiometer to select an entry. A second button validate it and type it for you.
• The first button lock the system.

The code is available directly on the thingz application store : https://thingz.co/store/803

Conclusion

The electronic part is awesome. All components are reusable, no wiring...

Applications with Thingz are unlimited, without any danger and cost less : no burnt parts, no solder and no wires.
Is this will become the new way to learn code, programmation and electronics at school ? I think it will...