Hardware has long been the outcast of startup society, pushed to the fringes by popular social networks, e-commerce platforms, and enterprise jocks. But now the nerdy kids spending their free time in science club, tinkering with robots and playing with math, are making a comeback.
Today, Lemnos Labs held an event called Hardware 2.0 at its SoMA warehouse to bring entrepreneurs, investors, experts, and innovators together to stimulate discussion about the state of hardware. Lemnos Labs is a hardware startup accelerator that provides financial backing, space, tools, mentorship, connections, and guidance to its portfolio companies. It was founded by two MIT grads who wanted to create an empowering environment where these exiles and underdogs could get their ideas off the ground.
“The hardware scene is fundamentally changing,” said founder Jeremy Conrad. “Platforms like Kickstarter have made them a lot more popular, and startups are getting funding. But a lot of the talent and expertise still go to big corporations, and entrepreneurs and venture capitalists don’t know how to talk to each other. This event is about education.”
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
