Tinkerability of kits | Valentijn.xyz

During the previous lecture we had the opportunity to try out different materials and building kits. We got some time to play with each of the following kits, and I have ranked them in different categories based on my thoughts.

My favorites from this list is still cardboard & hot glue. Ever since i was a child I have just loved the simplicity of cardboard and how easy it is to shape. I can still remember the birthday that I got a hot glue gun which changed my entire style of crafting. To this day I still use it to quickly build out ideas, mechanisms and prototypes. My least favorite of the list is the makerbeam set, I found it hard to work with and it only allows you to construct in a certain way and a square shape.

Material	Price	Main focus	Ease of first use	External Requirements	Ease of accidental irreversible destruction	Interoperability	Reusability
Cardboard & hot glue	$ Very cheap	Quick Physical Building	★★★★★ Easy, cardboard is easily manipulated and hot glue is quite self explaining.	★★★★★ None	★★★★★ Low, as many accidents can be fixed easily	★★★★★ High, using glue anything can be connected	★ Cardboard does not disconnect well from glue
Arduino starter kit	$$ Cheap	Programming & electronics	★★ Hard, as software and drivers need to be installed. The room for error when connecting electronics is large	★★ Laptop with arduino software and drivers	★ High, connecting components can easily go wrong	★★★★★ High, just about any electronic component can be connected in some way or another	★★★★★ Components seperate easily and everything can be resued (if not burnt :D)
Microbit	$$ Cheap	Visual coding & electronics	★★★ Medium, device with microbit app is needed	★★★ Phone or laptop with software	★★★ Medium, as inbuilt components and microbit components dock together, with alligator clips anything can be connected though	★★★★★ High, the microbit can be placed in a docking station or any other component can be connected using the alligator clip connector	★★★★★ Components seperate easily and can then be reused
Littlebits	$$$$$ Expensive	Electronics	★★★★★ Extremely easy, pieces snap together seamlessly	★★★★★ Mostly none as most pieces work when you snap them together	★★★★★ Low, pieces only snap together in certain ways which makes the system extremely safe to use	★ Low, littlebits only snap together with other parts within the littlebits eco system	★★★★★ Components snap apart easily and are well built to last many itterations and projects
Makeblock	$$$ Mid-range	Robotics	★★★ Medium, easy connection of electronics but software on device is needed	★★★ Phone or laptop with software	★★★★★ Low, custom connectors ensure that components can be connected incorrectly	★ Low as only custom components made by mblock can be used	★★★★★ Parts cannot be modified thus stay the same, electronics are connect with easily removable connectors.
Totem	$$$$$ Expensive	Physical Building	★★★★★ Extremely easy as screws are self explanatory as to where they fit	★★★★★ None, screwdriver and all other parts to get started are included	★ High, pieces may are meant to be cut and may break.	★★★★★ High, the screws inclucded can be used to conect the kit to anything else with holes	★★★ Some parts need to be cut but the screws allow for easy disassembly and reuse.
Makerbeam	$$$$$ Expensive	Physical Building	★★★★★ Easy as it consists of only screws and beams	★★★★★ None	★★★★★ Low as pieces are very sturdy	★ Low, there are almost no points to connect other items using the included screws	★★★★★ Parts easily come appart and can be reused.
Metal Mecanno	$$ Cheap	Physical Building	★★★★★ Easy, the screws and plates are self explanatory	★★★★★ None	★★★★★ Low, pieces screw together, bent pieces can be bent back.	★★★★★ High, anything with a hole can be screwed on with long enough screws	★★★★ Screws allow for easy reuse, plates however can be bent easily, breaking due to fagigue after time.
Cargo Crashers (our own project)	$$$ Mid range	Car Building	★★★★★ Easy as parts snap together and electronics connect to the board	★★★★ Computer for configuration.	★★★★★ Low as most pieces snap together and electronic parts use standardized one way connectors.	★★★★★ High, any lego-compatible item can be connected.	★★★★ Connectors allow for easy disassembly of electronics and blocks allowing for easy reuse.

Besides playing with these kits we also had the opportunity to try out animatronics. Using cardboard, hotglue and servos we build small creatures that could move. Together with my partner invisioned an insect that could move around, so we started trying to build some legs.

When testing the legs, they accidentally walked themselves off the table

At the end of the workshop our creature could (kind of) walk around and we had a lot of fun trying out new things and making it.