Interview

I’m Dr Andrew Robinson, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and I also run a start-up company which was behind the Codebug project. LXF: So what’s Codebug? AR: Codebug is a cute wearable microcontroller board and the idea is that a beginner can set up and program it in less than a minute. Codebug uses a Pic micro-controller and has a series of 25 red LED creating a matrix. Along the edge, we have connections that enable users to connect using crocodile clips to components such as LED etc. Programming your Codebug is handled via a web interface and requires no software installation. Everything is handled via the web interface. Code is compiled online and then downloaded to the user’s computer. From there they can plug in their Codebug, which will appear as a USB drive, and copy the code across. The code will then be ready for use. LXF: We already have many different devices, why do we need Codebug? AR: To answer that question let me tell you where Codebug came from. A few years ago I was hosting Raspberry Pi workshops with teachers. They had great enthusiasm and wanted to get into it, but what we found from these workshops was that it took some time for them to achieve something exciting, such as turning on an LED. It felt like we were losing them along the way as there were no quick rewards to keep their interest. As an engineer, I looked at the problem and the set up of supporting equipment was an issue. So I looked for the lowest common denominators and they were access to the web and USB. Using a web interface we can program Codebug and via USB we can transfer the code across. Codebug comes with ready to go and basic projects, such as name badges and animations, that can be created in under a minute. Codebug is a gentle introduction, an entry point, to physical computing and will hopefully inspire people to go further with boards such as the Raspberry Pi. LXF: So here we are at Oggcamp, how did you find out about this event? AR: I read about the event via a feature in a magazine [what are those? –Ed] a few years ago. It seemed like a vibrant, interesting place where like-minded people can meet and exchange ideas. It seemed like the place to see what the community were making. LXF: Has OggCamp lived up to your expectations? AR: