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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

#141

Post by intoverflow2 »

sudosteph wrote: post #11

I want to be cynical because I hate the idea that a gadget has to have "jewel" in the name and be a fancy "friendship bracelet" to appeal to girls. But it's a neat little trinket that somebody worked hard on, and if it really was a young woman who designed it to enjoy with their friends, I can't really hold that against them. I don't think scaring away guys from it by saying it's "for girls" is doing them any favors…

Technology Will Save Us ship a similar product that is more gender neutral if anyone is interested.

Actually think in this space the norm is actively going gender neutral.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#142

Post by bambax »

Funny how the conversation seems to hover around gender. Who cares? I have children of both genders (2 boys, 1 girl) and they really like the same things. The girl is a little more outdoorsy and the boys like screens more, it seems, but I don't esp. attribute that to gender, more to their personal inclination. All three love roller skating, and cooking, and yelling, and also, making houses with blankets and pillows.

Anyway, one point the FAQ doesn't seem to cover is how is this thing powered and how long does a charge last? Can it beep and hum and do the things it does, for at least a full day?

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#143

Post by palunon »

fjcksdnfbh wrote: post #129
substack wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the real C++ part is so important because it respects the abilities and intelligence of children to participate in the adult world using a real (yet approachable) technology that is also used in industry. This also makes these skills earned poking around with a fun toy transferable to solving their own problems, doing coursework at university, and later on entering the technology labor market. Other programmi…

Some kids can see through anything, but I think it’s hugely naive to think many kids won’t struggle with it. Do you remember how hard kids find algebra? That syntax is downright trivial compared to explaining why you need to insert a space between angle brackets when composing templates, or why calling your method overloaded for pointers might sometimes call an integer one instead when passed a null literal, or how t…

> Some kids can see through anything, but I think it’s hugely naive to think many kids won’t struggle with it. Do you remember how hard kids find algebra? That syntax is downright trivial compared to explaining why you need to insert a space between angle brackets when composing templates, or why calling your method overloaded for pointers might sometimes call an integer one instead when passed a null literal, or how to debug e.g. memory alignment errors, which are often presented with cryptic segmentation faults.

> I think it’s great for a certain crowd, but this could be quite frustrating for many pre teens and ultimately put them off of casual coding.

> Besides, kids aren’t exactly leaping at micro controllers. And why should they? Software programming is applicable to more and more prospective jobs every year.

>why you need to insert a space between angle brackets when composing templates,

You don't have to anymore ;)

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#144

Post by follower »

sudosteph wrote: post #86
sarajo wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! I respect your opinion as well, it's great to hear it. We all have our own version of feminism, and everyone is working towards similar goals. Man, making the next Tamagotchi would be amazing, I wonder if anyone has started?

Doooo iiitttt!!! :D Imagine if it evolved differently based on how you programmed it and other virtual pets you encountered. Could be really fun, but I understand if you have too much on your plate as is!

FWIW a number of years ago I created a concept for a virtual pet toy that was aimed at exploring alternate approaches which might encourage girls--who may not have been previously interested--to learn to code and other computer science related concepts (such as state machines).

One interesting aspect that GoldieBlox's research mentioned was that they found girls became more engaged when there was a story with a purpose (e.g. help this puppy) or opportunity for story-telling.

This made me wonder if there would be potential for combining an already popular electronic toy concept (virtual pets) with a programming environment that was also a story-telling environment. The behavior of the pet would be determined by a state machine generated from the story.

For example:

    Hello my name is [Oinky].
    When I am [tired] I [sometimes] want to [play].
    When I am [hungry] I [always] want to [eat].
Then the state machine for the virtual pet could be generated from that. (And associated graphical appearance, sounds etc.) Another appealing aspect of the virtual pet form factor was that low-resolution pixel art was accessible (in terms of skill required) and wouldn't look out of place. (I also believe there's a lot of value in a tangible physical "thing" that people can carry & show-off.)

I ended up getting a bit distracted by the more generic question of how to produce a platform of enclosures & electronics that would enable people to prototype hand-held Arduino-based devices. (And then other things.) But I still think the idea is worth exploring.

Some online notes on these two projects:

* http://www.labradoc.com/i/follower/p/project-pet-designer-to...

* http://www.labradoc.com/i/follower/p/project-arduino-enclosu...

Offers of investment and/or consulting welcomed. :D

(With regard to a non-gendered Computer Science curriculum "Computer Science Unplugged" might be of interest: http://csunplugged.org/ )

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#145

Post by samfriedman »

subroutine wrote: post #61
untog wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. "When Nyla got Jewelbots for her birthday she gave the second one to Wenhao, a girl in her class." "Nyla and Wenhao's Jewelbots light up blue when they are together (Blue is Wenhao's favorite color)" "They make a secret language just for their Jewelbots. Sending one buzz means "look behind you!"." "Using the power of STEM, Nyla and her friends make games and custom friend animations by writing code and up…

" Step 2 To begin coding your Jewelbot, you will need to download the Arduino IDE. "

"Step 1: In a terminal, input the command vimtutor..."

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#146

Post by marci »

sudosteph wrote: post #86
sarajo wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! I respect your opinion as well, it's great to hear it. We all have our own version of feminism, and everyone is working towards similar goals. Man, making the next Tamagotchi would be amazing, I wonder if anyone has started?

Doooo iiitttt!!! :D Imagine if it evolved differently based on how you programmed it and other virtual pets you encountered. Could be really fun, but I understand if you have too much on your plate as is!

If only Jewelbots and Arduboy[0] had a baby device together... Maybe they should start by putting a ring on it, arduboy already made a (precious) bluetooth one [1]

[0] https://arduboy.com [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDXsLxPPB88

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#147

Post by addicted »

phalangion wrote: post #95
rapsacnz wrote: post #83

As a proud dad of 3 incredible girls, I am very glad this product exists. I understand the argument that it would be great to not have gendered products at all meaning kids could choose what they want without any outside influence. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world yet (and it could be a while off) In the meantime, I can now buy a product that: 1. Encourages my girls to get into STEM. 2. Is not a hard sell.…

Even without socialization, I'd bet some girls will still like girly stuff.

The problem isn’t that girls like “girly” stuff. The problem is that stuff is defined as “girly”.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#148

Post by sarajo »

bambax wrote: post #142

Funny how the conversation seems to hover around gender. Who cares? I have children of both genders (2 boys, 1 girl) and they really like the same things. The girl is a little more outdoorsy and the boys like screens more, it seems, but I don't esp. attribute that to gender, more to their personal inclination. All three love roller skating, and cooking, and yelling, and also, making houses with blankets and pillows.…

Thanks for your feedback! Adding today.

Re: Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code

#149

Post by teddyh »

sarajo wrote: post #77
jeswin wrote: post #74

Congratulations on launch and I really, really want you guys to succeed. However, the copy below is a little off-putting. >Jewelbots patent pending bluetooth connection takes friendship to the next level by responding to your besties whenever you are together. a) What's the patentable invention here? If it's a programmable watch or something like that, I'd be very scared. b) Your target audience should be encouraged…

Hi! Our patent covers the ability to communicate from wearable to wearable using BLE. I hope that he fact that we're completely open source, from hardware to firmware to software, encourages others to share. As far as advertising, I get that. Feedback received. Thanks.

Open source licenses traditionally have give permission for people to do what would otherwise be prohibited by copyright law; i.e. copying, modifying and redistributing the software. But if you have a patent, people are still forbidden from doing that, by patent law.

The way out for you would be to use one of the license texts which include a patent grant in addition to copyright license; e.g. either the GPLv3 or Apache 2 licenses.

Of course, if you do that, one could well ask what you wanted the patent for in the first place.

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