Det låter kanske lite märkligt, men jag beställde en dock från MakieLabs – ett London-baserat företag i alfa-läge, som planerar att sälja actiondockor formgivna av användarna och “utskrivna” med 3D-skrivare. Det är så mycket som är intressant med det här att jag bara kände mig tvungen att beställa en av de hundra förproducerade dockorna. Bara den här grejen är spännande:
MAKIES can’t talk (yet) but the inside is designed to fit a Lilypad Arduino or similar, so if you want to you can try your hand at fitting LEDs, RFIDs and battery packs, voicechips, Bluetooth and Arduino. We’re really hoping you’ll have a go at that. The eyes are moveable if you open up the head and unclip the eye piece. And there’s room in the neck for wires and in the back cavity for batteries.
Dan Catt har sammanfattat några av de viktigaste frågorna, där det här var det som fick mig att fastna för MakieLabs:
When the project started, it was designing for technology that would come into play just in time for when it was needed but not there yet. Maybe businesses just do this all the time and I don’t normally notice? Some businesses are created as new technology (such as selling household 3D printers) but this was for new near future technology. A bit like “let’s start working on this now, and by the time we’ve finished figuring it out the tech we need will have arrived.” (or rather; need at a realistic price point).
Not so much riding the wave, but being totally prepared for the wave even before it comes. That seems pretty smart to me. If I needed to point at a very real cutting edge start-up right now, that was successfully playing in both the digital and physical space it’d have to be this.
Dockan har inte anlänt från framtiden än, men den lär ha landat på Arlanda idag:
