Hasta La Gadget!

A new modular robotics kit was recently launched via Kickstarter and it is called the MIND KIT. It’s an easy-to-use development kit for robotics. The modular robot is designed as an easy click-together system, so you can get down to programming quickly.

It’s maker, Vincross describes its capabilities as such: “Cerebrum, Servo Controller and Robot Battery are the core modules of MIND KIT, and then you can easily stack different modules on top of each other. All the modules easily click together with the closing of the robot ‘arms’. We’ve also added MIND KIT Ports into the different module. Robotics-optimized single-board computer where you control the robots’ sensing, thinking, decision-making and language processing. Powerful ARM Cortex-A53 Quad-Core 1.2GHz for strong computing power and 2GB DDR3 RAM. Includes comprehensive interfaces and ports, including 54 programmable pins and USB-C accessories, for easy customization and creativity. Less wiring and configuration, more seamless plug & play creation.”



The kit comes with its own robotic optimized operating system called”MIND OS 2.0,” which is based on the Linux kernel. MIND OS is made especially for coding and programming robots. You use the modules in different ways to create a diverse array of robots that can do a wide variety of things.

This kit looks like a lot of fun for anyone who loves robots or programming. Pledges start at just $99 for the Cerebrum module, but you’ll need to spend $299 or more for a complete robot. You can expect shipping in September 2019 if the campaign is successful and hits it’s $100,000 goal.

[via Geeky-Gadgets]

Circle makes a fantastic screen time management tool and today the company announced a round of funding to help fuel its growth. The $20 million series B included participation from Netgear and T-Mobile, along with Third Kind Venture Capital and follow-on investments from Relay Ventures and other Series A participants.

With this round of funding, Circle has raised over $30 million to date.

According to the company, Circle intends to use the funds to expand its product offering and form new partnerships with hardware makers and mobile carriers.

The timing is perfect. Parents are increasingly looking at ways to make sure children and teenagers do not become addicted to screens.

Circle works different from other solutions attempting to limit screen time. It’s hardware based and sits plugged into a home’s network. It allows an administrator, like a parent, to easily restrict the amount of time a device, such as an iPhone owned by a child, is able to access the local network. It’s easy and that’s the point.

Circle sits in a small, but growing field of services attempting to give parents the ability to limit their child’s screentime. Some of these solutions, like Apple’s, sits in the cloud and thought works well, is limited to iOS and Mac OS devices. Others, like those on Netgear’s Orbi products, offer a similar network-wide net, but is much harder to use than Circle.

In my household we use tools like Circle. The lure of the screen is just too great and these solutions, when used in combination with traditional parenting, ensure my children stare into the real world — at least for a few minutes a day.

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