Say you want to create the next generation of voice recognition-enabled, AI-ensmartened, buzzword-laden gadget. The fist thing you need to do is pick a platform. Arduino isn\u2019t powerful enough. The Raspberry Pi works great for prototyping, but going from Pi to production is a many-step process. Next Thing \u2018s Chip Pro is stepping up to fill the gap with a smart development kit for IoT creators.
The dev kit is a clever combination of just the core chip needed to build your applications, and a slighty bigger development board that enables all the features of the chip. The idea is that you use the development board (which includes an USB host port, power controllers, battery and mains power sockets, an audio jack, a couple of microphones, servo controllers, LEDs, and more) to quickly prototype and build a version of the product. Once you have a working product, you can take the chip off the debug board and start building your own products from there.
An example projects built on the Chip Pro is the Trntbl internet-enabled record player , which now is available for pre-order for $425. It\u2019s a normal record player, except the team added some IoT magic: It\u2019s possible to stream your turntablist magic straight to Spotify for the world to enjoy. Useful? Who knows. Awesome? Hell yes.
The real magic with Chip Pro is that it\u2019s a predictable constant. The company sources the 100 or so components that make up a Chip Pro, before assembling and testing it, taking a huge chunk out of the supply chain challenge for makers. The company has a pretty simple pricing, too: $16 per unit. It doesn\u2019t matter if you order one or a million; the cost is $16. As someone who\u2019s built electronics for mass manufacture in the past, let me just say this: I wish this thing had been around when I did. It would have made mass manufacturing a whole lot easier.
The company started in 2013 with a Kickstarted, hackable GIF camera called OTTO. The team ran into some interesting challenges along the way, and it made the company realize that there would be a market for a simple, low-cost computer platform for makers to use. That, too, received a warm welcome on Kickstarter, raising more than $2m from almost 40,000 backers.
I can\u2019t wait to see what impact the current generation of Chip Pro will have on the next generation of gadget inventors.<\/p>\n