We were sorry to be without our mentor Amber this week but glad to welcome new mentor Shruthi!

Here she is!

Shruthi demonstrating Tech Box Tricks by Seeed

Here’s what we had on our agenda for today.

Photo of whiteboard showing a message to the students from mentors and a list of the week's activities

You’ve seen photos of sewing and the junk box before, but what are Tech Box Tricks? It’s a set of

  • inputs (sensors, buttons, and other triggers)
  • a small microcontroller in a plastic case (a kind of computerized “brain”)
  • outputs (like a buzzer, fan, or light)
  • connectors with wires
  • a battery with connecting wires

Here are some components laid out, ready to be connected!

Tech Box Tricks components

The folks at Seeed estimate that you can make up to 64 different combinations when you combine power + input + microcontroller + output + imagination.

Close-up photo of Tech Box Tricks by Seeed

Thanks for teaching us, Shruthi!

What we like about Tech Box Tricks is that it’s really easy to get a functioning set-up pretty quickly. Then your imagination can take over!

Exploring Tech Box Tricks, a kit from Seeed

While we didn’t quite have time to combine these with the junk box to prototype some original inventions, as we planned, we hope to try again after the holiday break. (Because, as you know, we have a MM traditional activity we do the last MM meeting before we stop for the semester!)

Remember that December 7 is the last 2015 meeting date for Scarlett, and December 9 is the last 2015 meeting date for Mitchell. Then we have a break until January!

~ Kristin