This episode includes an interview with Joern Alraun, managing partner at Calliope gGmbH about the Boson Starter Kit for the Calliope Mini Single Board Computer.
Jørn is an interaction designer, co-founder of several companies with a focus on developing digital learning toys and he is a member of the Interaction Design Association. More importantly, at least for this interview, he is a managing partner at Calliope gGmbH so he is well aware of everything that concerns the Calliope Mini single board computer which is used at schools and workshops to teach kids about logic and coding.
If you have not heard about the Calliope Mini itself before, I highly recommend to listen to the episode with Stephan Noller – in that episode we concentrate on the Calliope Mini itself. The focus of this episode – while probably also touching on some recent Calliope developments – will be a special add-on product for the Calliope Mini, called the Boson Starter Kit for Calliope Mini. It is produced by DFRobot from Shanghai, China, who is a well-known manufacturer for educational tools.
Images: (c) Calliope gGmbH – used with permission
So the Boson Starter Kit for Calliope includes an extension board and several sensors and actuators. These can be plugged into the extension board easily with the provided cables. Everything comes in a nice case and DFRobot even included some getting started cards that show where each sensor or actuator needs to be connected as well as a simple visual coding example – and believe me: these cards really make a difference in a workshop setting.