Microcontroller Kit Puts Smart Objects Into Kids' Hands

At first glance I wasn't convinced by this kit; surely a so-called microcontroller, when it's enlarged to the size of a VCR tape, loses half of its name and becomes simply a "controller"?  Semantics aside, it only took me a few minutes to see the potential for fun.  The Microcontroller kit from Thames & Kosmos (I can't help but think of a British/Russian design collaboration when I read that name) is intended to give young people (aka children) an opportunity to learn about the embedded chips that manage most electronic things they'll come into contact with.  Consisting of software for a PC that you script a programme with, which gets loaded via InfraRed to the afore-mentioned microprocessor box, it comes with a variety of sensors that allows external data to be collected and then acted on., the results of which are stored for later analysis.

This is, obviously, too much fun to be left to children (aka young people); it is destined to be picked up and hurried away by an adult on Christmas afternoon, when everyone else is more excited by Wii or PS3.  If you can't wait until then, it's available now for $149.95

Product Page [via Crave]