Scratch
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#1 2009-11-05 09:17:12
Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Someone sent us this video that shows how Scratch can work with an experimental technology from Sun Microsystems:
http://www.scratch.mit.edu/ext/youtube/?v=eoxMBwy6E9k
"Sun SPOT (Sun Small Programmable Object Technology) is a wireless sensor network (WSN) mote developed by Sun Microsystems. The device is built upon the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Unlike other available mote systems, the Sun SPOT is built on the Squawk Java Virtual Machine."
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#2 2009-11-05 11:25:40
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Wow. I'm really impressed.
It has a few features in commong with the Scratch board like light sensing and such but unlike the Scratch board you can also control things in real life.
It's a bit weird the implemented only a few of the SPOT's features for use in Scratch and then say "If you know even a little Java programming it's a simple matter to extend the on SPOT portion of the demo to add other variables to control other aspects of the SPOT."
A Sun SPOT Java Development Kit includes 2 full Sun SPOT devices and a base station, as well as development tools, tutorials, sample code and accessories.
$299 
Why are all these cool things that expensive
Same with the lego WeDo kit 
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#3 2009-11-05 11:37:27
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
I really like it!
I would absolutely buy one, if I could afford it
You could make some sort of bowling game using the SUN SPOT 
How do you know which variables that control the LED's?
Are there any options in the SDK, which you can control which vairable that operates the different ports?
It wouldn't surprise me if you were able to program PIC:s with Scratch in a couple of years...
Last edited by jacool (2009-11-05 11:37:42)
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#4 2009-11-05 15:30:30
- Lucario621
- Community Moderator
- Registered: 2007-10-03
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Really cool! I might not have a huge amount of uses for it, but I bet others could make some very creative ideas with it!
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#6 2009-11-05 15:44:47
- Lucario621
- Community Moderator
- Registered: 2007-10-03
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Jens wrote:
OMG it's *THE* Randy Smith (!!!)
Lol nerd celebrity
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#7 2009-11-05 20:00:30
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
cool, pretty much the same as the scratch board, but with much more technology within it and this pretty much looks the same as a Wii remote, except with a few lacking features probably
click the image for my music
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#8 2009-11-05 21:36:18
- illusionist
- Retired Community Moderator
- Registered: 2008-07-02
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Thanks for sharing this with us Andrés! Very interesting.
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#10 2009-11-05 23:06:23
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
This is so cool! If I could get one of these wireless you could have a Mini Wii Mote and make a game. 
( As Dingdong said. 
) But the light controlling is cool too, and the part of being able to control the speakers and other stuff!
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#13 2009-11-06 14:25:29
- chalkmarrow
- Scratcher
- Registered: 2007-05-18
- Posts: 100+
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Really interesting system! It's quite expensive right now, but maybe in a year or two it will be reasonable, or something else with the same functionality will come along.
If you are not afraid of soldering and tinkering, you could probably make a very inexpensive gadget functionally similar to this using an Arduino board, an Xbee shield, and whatever sensors you want to hook up to it.
Last edited by chalkmarrow (2009-11-06 15:46:49)
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#14 2009-11-06 14:29:20
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
JSO wrote:
A Sun SPOT Java Development Kit includes 2 full Sun SPOT devices and a base station, as well as development tools, tutorials, sample code and accessories.
$299
Same with the lego WeDo kit
If I had 300 dollars I'd rather buy a lego Mindstorms set than an "addon" to scratch 
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#15 2009-11-06 15:37:19
- terminator68
- Scratcher
- Registered: 2008-02-26
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Scratch controlling the Sun Spot
Nice!
--------------------Scratcher since '08--------------------
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