Sponsored By
Efika 5200B Project
Personal Computer for Childrenin category Other
proposed by PurpleAlien on 8th February 2006 (accepted on 10th February 2006)
Project Summary
Hi.When reading all these project proposals, I got the feeling the kids were left out a bit, so therefor this one.
I was thinking of making a portable system with very simple GUI (still Linux based or MorphOS) with a nice integrated set of software tools for children of all ages.
Depending on the abilities of the children, additional software can be activated by the parents. This way, they will always have something interesting to do without the need for a new toy.
Software could range from simple educational tools, relaxing games, learning helpers for math and language, etc.
Furthermore, an internet connection using WLAN can be provided, with access to a number of websites selected by the parents.
The entire system can fit on a flash based drive, so it would not get damaged easily by shocks.
Now, to make things even more interesting...
External toys, provided by e.g. third party manufacturors, can be controlled from this system. Maybe to control a little car, or dog, or robot etc. This could be done by adding an IR transceiver, bluetooth or some RF module.
When the child grows up, more and more capabilities of the system will become available, allowing for them to write their own programs, etc.
Just a thought.
Johan
P.S. I came up with this after seeing some of those very expensive "children computers" which only have a tiny LCD screen and no real functionality (you know what I mean). I know as a kid I would have loved a system with the capabilities to drive robots etc., so maybe I can have the chance now to make one. (and play a little with it too, I admit :-)
Project Blog Entries
Due to our involvement in four other Efika projects, this one has been put a little on a back burner.
The main issue remains finding an appropriate and especially cost-effective way to connect a screen, and finding the right (read power-efficient) graphics card.
We will keep a close eye on the Efika Volari projects, and see if the combination of Efika/V3 will suit our needs.
Another reason to put this project in the background, is due to the major investments needed to develop this project into a final product. We hope that the success of our other products will allow us to invest more time and money in this one.
We know that a future Efika revision with on board graphics card (and hopefully LVDS interface) will make this project a lot easier, and also more cost effective.
We are convinced there is a market for this device (see the interest the OLPC generates, not only in "third world" countries). We will continue optimizing the software for this device, and will also investigate if MorphOS is suitable for this application.
Johan.
EFIKA is finalised and will start shipping soon.
Some features we hoped for are not included (onboard GFX being the major thing), but we will work around that.
Hopefully we will be able to make a prototype based on the EFIKA soon.
Johan.
So there have been some changes to the EFIKA design which could make a huge difference in price, feasability and time to market for this project.
First of all, there is the addition of a GFX chip on board. This means we do not need to source any Radeon 7000 or 9250 based gfx cards. It will also allow for a smaller design. More importantly, as LVDS will be supported, the TFT screen becomes much cheaper and will consume less power as the VGA controller will not be needed anymore.
The possibility of an added FPGA on the board opens up some innovative prospects which I cannot tell much about yet; however what I can say is that the FPGA could be used as Touchscreen controller so we can make the design more integrated and cheaper as the additional hardware to drive the touchscreen will become unnecessary.
We hope to get the design specifications (especially dimensions) of the EFIKA soon, as we are going to fabricate a plastic prototype using SLS/SLA (Stereo Lithography).
More comming soon!
In case you didn't see the prototype designs yet:
Link to images
And before I forget, how does a full Graphical Linux boot-up time of 7 seconds sound? More later :-)
Johan.
What's the difference between a big company like Microsoft and a small company like NordicAurum?
The answer is this: they can afford a lot of money to design and implement something while we have to take care not to kill ourselves.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx
This is quite similar to what we have in mind for this project, only we are aiming at children first.
Anyway, we will continue with our project and make it better than theirs :-)
Johan.
You have no idea how difficult these are to find.
Well, one or two is no problem, but when you need larger quantities eying mass production, things get complicated.
The problem is this: VGA
Most touch screens on the market, as used in Laptops, are LVDS. But there are no standard Graphics cards available with this kind of connector. Not to mention many of the small "Mini-AGP" cards are build for one type of screen in particular.
And even then, getting these mini-agp cards to work in a normal AGP slot is nearly impossible.
The solution to this problem would be to equip the next generation of EFIKA with a mobile onboard graphics chip to drive these kinds of screens. Or maybe provide a mini-AGP connector...
For the prototype we found a solution in the form of a Lilliput screen which can be dismantled. Quite expensive, but seems like the cheapest solution in the market right now. It has a VGA connector, so we can attach it straight to a standard video card.
Since EFIKA is targetted at the mobile market, I hope in the future this problem can be handled in an elegant way so we can shave a big amount of mony off of the production cost.
Johan.
An important thing to consider when designing a thing like this is cost.
Lets make a little calculation:
- EFIKA 100$
- Touchscreen (8, 10 or 12 inch to be decided) around 150$
- Flash card (512MB) 30$
- Battery (4000mAh, 12V) 40$
- GFX card 50$
- Additional (wires, mounting, riser slot, etc.) 30$
-----------------------------------------------------------
- Total: 400$ ---> Expensive in my opinion...
- Add the Casing... expensive if you only make one!!
But negligable in large quantity.
And this is where it gets interesting because as soon as you have a quantity, the cost of this device can be driven down substantially.
Testing...
Some problem occured with my latest post.
- edit -
It was a bug in the forum; thanks for fixing!
Johan
As promised, here are the first conceptual images of the computer for children.
Link to images
Please keep in mind that these are very early designs. Your feedback is more than welcome!
Johan.
Hi.
The first concept designs are almost ready. I'll post as soon as I find some time.
Also, the initial engineering and software design has started, together with a research into usable touch screens for this project.
Johan.
Well, the second one I got approved :-)
I must say I'm really happy about this one. Even though I did not know it would get approved, I started planning this one anyway and even have a student who will do (part) of this project for his thesis.
I'll have a meeting with him on Monday, and am hoping he's as excited about this one as I am.
The idea is to build a tough little machine like I always whished I had when I was a kid. Kind of like a 'magic box'... I guess you know what I'm talking about.
There will be a lot of work involved in this project, both on the hardware side and the software side!
More info comming soon...
Johan