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Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

jewelbots.com

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Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#41

Post by scrumper »

sarajo wrote: post #21
kdamken wrote: post #8

Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.

Thanks so much for your feedback! Sounds like we have some things to add to the FAQ! Jewelbots can be programmed just like an Arduino using C++. Real code! Because we believe that kids are super smart (Also, I starting writing C++ at 11).

My knee jerk reaction was pretty negative, but on only a few seconds’ reflection I think this is great. Absolutely no reason why kids can’t start with C++; it doesn’t have to be template meta programming insanity from the get-go. Motivated kids have infinite capacity for learning and a lot of time for exploration.

Kudos for not patronizing them with some awful imitation of flow programming or some neutered scripting language.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#42

Post by pls2halp »

pg_bot wrote: post #16

Anyone who is active in the NYC JS scene knows Sara Chipps, the CEO of Jewelbots. She has given a couple talks about what it takes to run a hardware startup, and has been a wonderful member of the community. I only wish her and co. the best of success with everything they have put together, the new version looks great!

> JS scene

I don’t want to be an asshole, but ಠ_ಠ

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#44

Post by KGIII »

asusBsus wrote: post #38
KGIII wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they will do is make the nearly inevitable drama of teen girl lives more expensive as the devices are discarded as rapidly as BFFs and boyfriends. The drama in a young teen's life seems to know no limits. It's all very important to them, at least for the moment. As a parent, you're sort of obligated to take it Very Seriously. These are just one more thing to be taken Very Seriously. I do find it amusing that mar…

"the nearly inevitable drama of teen girl lives more expensive as the devices are discarded as rapidly as BFFs and boyfriends." This is an untrue stereotype. I would argue that this stereotype, teen girls are unnecessarily and overly dramatic, is one of the same stereotypes that dissuades girls from coding in the first place.

You can argue that but, out of curiosity, I just sent my daughter a text.

Me: 'How long do you think you kept friendship bracelets for?'

Her reply: 'Maybe two weeks. I still have one from [redacted] somewhere.'

As I said, it surely isn't universal but she and her friends all fit that pattern. It didn't keep her from STEM, she's an MD.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#45

Post by sctb »

pls2halp wrote: post #42
pg_bot wrote: post #16

Anyone who is active in the NYC JS scene knows Sara Chipps, the CEO of Jewelbots. She has given a couple talks about what it takes to run a hardware startup, and has been a wonderful member of the community. I only wish her and co. the best of success with everything they have put together, the new version looks great!

> JS scene I don’t want to be an asshole, but ಠ_ಠ

Could you please not post unless you have something substantive and on-topic to say?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#46

Post by sarajo »

scrumper wrote: post #41
sarajo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks so much for your feedback! Sounds like we have some things to add to the FAQ! Jewelbots can be programmed just like an Arduino using C++. Real code! Because we believe that kids are super smart (Also, I starting writing C++ at 11).

My knee jerk reaction was pretty negative, but on only a few seconds’ reflection I think this is great. Absolutely no reason why kids can’t start with C++; it doesn’t have to be template meta programming insanity from the get-go. Motivated kids have infinite capacity for learning and a lot of time for exploration. Kudos for not patronizing them with some awful imitation of flow programming or some neutered scripting…

Yeah, right? I don't think the drag -> drop coding does a lot of help when it comes to learning.

Talking to my male peers, I learned that most of them started coding when they were Tweens, largely because they wanted to make games or found an open source project they loved. Jewelbots are designed to be the same for girls. So far so good!

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#48

Post by tyingq »

sarajo wrote: post #30
daveguy wrote: post #25

This would be a lot better if it was priced closer to cost. $70 is excessive for an a few RGB LEDs, microcontroller and a buzz motor. These things can't cost more than $10 to manufacture even at low scale. You have to buy at least 2 for it to be interesting they should sell them for $20-$40 each. Maybe the pricing will come down as they get orders. Very cool concept though. I hope they have some patents on it or they…

We do have patents, thank goodness! Our manufacturing costs are no where near $10, that would be amazing. We have a more advanced chipset than a Fitbit and all the capabilities of an Apple Watch (without the screen). Jewelbots can have 8 simultaneous central and peripheral relationships via bluetooth. We are the only wearable device that talks to other wearable devices! (we are also completely open source!)

>all the capabilities of an Apple Watch

The site makes it appear as if your device is running a microcontroller, AVR or similar. The Apple watch is a full on ARM processor running an operating system.

But perhaps you meant something else by the statement? I'd be curious to know what all is inside.

Edit: Poking around your github repos, it appears the device has a Nordic nRF51822, basically an SoC with an Arm Cortex M0 microcontroller plus a Bluetooth module.

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