The Internet

as Material
Empowering the Next Phase of
Connected Hardware Innovation

Ayah Bdeir
ISBN: 978-1-491-92635-2
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The Internet as Material
Empowering the Next Phase of
Connected Hardware Innovation

Ayah Bdeir
The Internet as Material
by Ayah Bdeir
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 Table of Contents

The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected

Hardware Innovation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Internet as Material 2
Democratizing Hardware 3
littleBits Library 7
Audience of One 11
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel 12
Dumb Sensors, Terminals, and Displays 12
Internet as Building Block 13
Solving a Problem for One Person is Beautiful 15

v
 The Internet as Material:
Empowering the Next Phase of
Connected Hardware Innovation

The following document is adapted from the keynote address by Ayah

Bdeir, on The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of
Connected Hardware Innovation, given at the Solid 2014 conference.
Ayah opened her Solid keynote with praise for Neil Gershenfeld, who
delivered a keynote earlier in the same day on the third digital revolu‐
tion.

Highlights
• Take advantage of the Internet as Material
• Democratize hardware to make it more accessible
• Discover the power of hardware modularity
• Create for an audience of one
• Tap into the Internet as a building block

Before I get started, I’d like to vouch for something that was said in
an earlier talk about Neil’s How to Make Almost Anything class. For
me, this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to get into. It was harder
than getting into MIT. But to be honest, that class by Neil Gershen‐
feld changed my life.

1
Internet as Material
My talk here today is about the Internet as Material. We all know
that the Internet of Things is a field that comes with a lot of promise
to make our lives easier. The promise to get our thermostats talking
to our fridges, thus preventing us from forgetting to buy milk, but
also the promise of making our relationships with technology even
better.
There have been many technologies and waves of technologies that
have also come with a lot of promise. In the 40s, the 50s, and the
60s, when the first washing machines and dishwashers came about,
it was all about the promise of how technology was going to make
our lives easier.
And yet, when we look at it, most devices are closed, finished prod‐
ucts that have prescribed and predefined functionality. These devi‐
ces make a guess at how to make our lives easier. A few days ago, I
was reading a Pew study about the Internet of Things, and this
quote by Harry Rheingold really caught my eye: “We will live in a
world where many things won’t work and nobody will know how to
fix them.”
When I read this I had two thoughts. The first thought, unfortu‐
nately, is that we already live in a world where many things don’t
work and we don’t know how to fix them. In fact, when Hurricane
Sandy happened (and I’m based in New York) a friend with a mas‐
ter’s degree in computer science was asking me why, after the hurri‐
cane had passed, the lower part of Manhattan didn’t have power and
yet the upper part of Manhattan did have power. There were these
fundamental misunderstandings about how the electricity grid
works and how power stations work that suggest perhaps we have
reached a point where technology has become so far from us that we
don’t really understand it.
The second thought I had about Harry’s quote is that perhaps this is
happening due to the way that technologies are parachuted onto us.
The TV industry is an example of a technology that came with a lot
of promise, and yet, when I go to buy a TV, I have no idea about the
difference between 3D, 4D, and 4K (Figure 1-1). I have no idea what
works. I just want something to display pictures.

2 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware Innovation
Figure 1-1. Which TV should I choose?

But it doesn’t have to be this way. I am optimistic that we can change

this, that we can make hardware and the Internet of Things work in
our favor and do what we want them to do to really improve our
lives.

Democratizing Hardware
Some of society’s most transformative technologies have started in
the hands of experts. And then something or someone came along
and democratized them, making them accessible to everyone. And
we’ve really had a chance to transform society.
A few years ago, I started working on this problem with a particular
focus on hardware. So, how do we democratize hardware? For me,
there are four principles:

1. Lowering the barrier to understanding

2. Lowering the barrier to iterating
3. Making it universal
4. Raising the ceiling of complexity
If you look at the left side of Figure 1-2, you have a raw proto circuit,
or a breadboard circuit that is trying to have a function. Nobody
wants that; nobody is trying to make that. That is a means to an end.

Democratizing Hardware | 3
On the right side of Figure 1-2, you have a device that is finished
and polished and ready for you to use, but it is also closed, and it
doesn’t have a lot for you to integrate.

Figure 1-2. A breadboard proto circuit (on the left) and a closed, fin‐
ished, and polished device (on the right)

If I compare this to the world of software, on the left side of the fig‐
ure, the proto circuit feels to me like assembly code. It feels to me
like the low-level version of hardware technology. And the right side
feels like an app: something that is finished, that you consume and
interact with.
But what is in the middle? What is the modular approach to hard‐
ware that we can learn from software? What is the C++ for hard‐
ware? What is the object-oriented version of hardware? My
approach to this question was to make hardware modular. In early
2008, I started working on this problem. I actually went to purchase
a modular circuit and I couldn’t find anything, so I started working
on it myself. I started making circuits that were modular, that each
had a single function. It was a delicate balance between creating
enough functionality in the hardware so that it is meaningful, but
also making it small enough so that you don’t have to constrain what
people are trying to do with it.
Figure 1-3 shows a cardboard circuit with copper tape on it, which is
functioning as a sound recorder.

4 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware Innovation
Figure 1-3. An early sound recorder module

The circuit shown in Figure 1-4 is a battery. The idea here is that,
when creating something that is battery powered, you don’t have to
reinvent how a battery distributes power.

Figure 1-4. An early battery module

I then started to experiment in different ways. This took many years

(it was early 2008) to really think about how to create a system that
was modular, but that was also easy to use and iterate with.

Democratizing Hardware | 5
Figure 1-5 shows a later creation, which uses magnets to snap mod‐
ules together, thus creating a simple device. In this case, I have cre‐
ated a dimmer with an LED and a pressure sensor.

Figure 1-5. Modules are connected with magnets

About 28 or 29 prototypes (3.5 years later), the littleBits library

looks like Figure 1-6.

Figure 1-6. The littleBits module library, which continues to grow

These electronic modules each have some very simple and some
very complex functions, but they all work within the same system to
make their iteration with hardware very easy. The goal here is to put
the power of electronics into everyone’s hands.

6 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware Innovation
I won’t go through all of the details, but the left side of Figure 1-7
shows a raw circuit that is breadboarded with wires and hundreds of
components, with a finished product on the right.

Figure 1-7. A raw circuit (on the left) contains hundreds of compo‐
nents, and the finished device (on the right) contains the same compo‐
nents

What if we inject something in between? In this case, we have a

seven-segment display that shows a number. You want to see a num‐
ber. You don’t care about how the circuit is made, especially if you
aren’t an engineer. For me, the device shown on the right side of
Figure 1-8 is the middle ground, or the C++ version of it.

Figure 1-8. The raw circuit (on the left) and the middle-ground prod‐
uct (on the right)

littleBits Library
The concept is simple, but the execution is actually pretty difficult.
For you to think ahead of time about all of the possible circuits that
you might come up with is actually a very complex task. And manu‐
facturing is not an easy thing to figure out, but it is a worthwhile
challenge, because it empowers people in a way that we’ve never
imagined possible.
Today, the littleBits library contains close to 60 modules, and there
are another 40 on the way. This is a really extensive and powerful,

littleBits Library | 7
but also easy-to-use, modular hardware library. It enables people
with absolutely zero experience to create highly complex behaviors
with electronics.
There are billions of different combinations of circuits that you can
make. This provides you with freedom. You don’t have to hire an
engineer or know exactly what outcome you want as you set out to
make a project. Yet this still allows for complexity, since raising the
ceiling of complexity is important. Like Neil Gershenfeld mentioned
here at the conference, these modules are not toys. They are tools to
empower people.
Figure 1-9 shows two examples of wireless communication devices
that allow two things to communicate wirelessly. On the left side is a
prototype that takes hundreds of components and dollars to build,
and there is a lot of room for error. Or instead, you can use modules
(shown on the right side).

Figure 1-9. A prototype with hundreds of components for wireless com‐

munication (on the left) and the same features in a finished product
(on the right)

Let’s look at some example projects that use modules. Figure 1-10
shows a mounting system (built by an industrial designer) for an
iPhone that allows you to take video in an easy and consistent way.

8 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware Innovation
Figure 1-10. This mounting system lets you record video from a phone
in an easy fashion

Figure 1-11 shows a slow water cooler that we have in our office. We
don’t like to wait for it to fill our glasses, so there is a timer that stops
dispensing water when it is ready.

Figure 1-11. No need to wait around with the help of this water cooler
timer

Figure 1-12 shows a wireless light fixture. It allows you to dim and
rotate light in different ways. Again, this is made by a designer who
had no experience in electronics.

littleBits Library | 9
Figure 1-12. This device allows you to dim and rotate light as needed

Figure 1-13 shows a robot delivering a screwdriver across the office.

It is wirelessly controlled, and we call it the FaceTime robot.

Figure 1-13. Our FaceTime robot runs mini errands for us

We also have our version of Bot & Dolly that picks up a component
and then puts it back.

10 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware

Innovation
Audience of One
These examples took anywhere from minutes to hours to create, but
we aren’t talking about days. And we aren’t talking about experience,
because sometimes you want to do something simple. One of our
team members, Andrew, is pretty lazy. He doesn’t want to go to the
bathroom only to discover that it is occupied. So, he made this little
device (shown in Figure 1-14) that displays whether or not the bath‐
room is in use, without having to go all the way there.

Figure 1-14. A visual cue lets you know when the bathroom is avail‐
able

This is a funny project, but it illustrates an idea that I think is very

important. Part of the problem with having technology (particularly
hardware) solely in the hands of experts in companies is that they
are going to guess what your needs are.
And there has to be a certain critical mass of these needs for a
project to warrant existence. Sometimes, you just need to know
whether someone is in the bathroom. Maybe you are the only per‐
son in the world with that need, but that doesn’t mean that the prod‐
uct shouldn’t exist. It may not warrant having mass manufacturing,
because it’s a product with an audience of one. But that doesn’t mean
it is any less important than any other things that you might use.
For one of our community members, we made this huge device
(Figure 1-15) with LEGO and littleBits sensors to be a mechanical
musical instrument.

Audience of One | 11
Figure 1-15. LEGO and littleBits team up to work in a mechanical
instrument

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

The lines continue to blur between art and technology. We want to
make tools available for people, without necessarily having a func‐
tion or startup in mind. Sometimes, you want to make art without
acquiring funding. And this art needs to use the technology of the
day—in this case, electronics.
We are also enabling more makers, designers, and prototypers to
create more things. Even those with extensive experience in hard‐
ware electronics can cut down on their prototyping time when they
don’t have to reinvent the wheel so often. On the other side of the
spectrum, people with no experience at all can use modules to make
powerful, modern, and computational things.

Dumb Sensors, Terminals, and Displays

Going back to the Internet of Things and how that is relevant, I see
people putting a lot of devices out there that are finished products.
These things are prescribed solutions to solve a problem. But I also
see a problem of overkill. A lot of these devices are individual com‐
puters. Why should a temperature sensor that you are using at home
be a computer? Why should a switch that tells you whether your
door is open or not be a computer? Why are we adding so much
computational power, when all we need is computation? It’s not nec‐
essary to put a computer on these peripherals. Sometimes, all we

12 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware

Innovation
want are dumb sensors, and dumb terminals, and dumb displays
that then plug into something we’ve already built, which is the Web.
We’ve already built the Internet. Are we going to rebuild it now in
the physical world? I believe that we don’t have to, that the idea is to
create these entry points to the Web. And so I go back to an idea that
Neil wrote about in Scientific American (with Raffi Krikorian and
Danny Cohen) in 2004, at the very beginning of his field. My first
interaction with the Internet of Things was learning about
Internet-0 from Neil’s article. It explores the idea of a distributed
open network of sensors and terminals, and sometimes dumb devi‐
ces that aren’t computers that enable you to do different things. So
the idea comes back as: “can we make the Internet the building
block?” Can it become a building block that empowers people to
invent with the Internet in the same way that you would invent with
light, sound, cardboard, or paper, and really make it a material?

Internet as Building Block

I leave you with one final example. In Figure 1-16, the Internet is the
cloud in the middle and you are creating an automated fish feeder.

Figure 1-16. littleBits gives your crafted device Internet access

You swap out the timeout module, and put in an MP3 player with a
speaker. Send it a text message, and you’ve now created your own
wireless device for disseminating music (Figure 1-17).

Internet as Building Block | 13

Figure 1-17. littleBits allows you to easily snap in an MP3 player

Swap out the MP3 player, and instead add a servo. Send an email to
it, and now you’ve created your own Nest (Figure 1-18). An old-
school Nest, but still.

Figure 1-18. Create your own old-school Nest product

And then you put one in Tokyo and one in New York, and you
embed it with other materials, such as, in this case, a plush toy.
We now have Collin telling his daughter he loves her from across the
world (Figure 1-19).

14 | The Internet as Material: Empowering the Next Phase of Connected Hardware

Innovation
Figure 1-19. Connecting Tokyo and New York in a project with cloud
modules

Solving a Problem for One Person is Beautiful

We want to enable people to create solutions that can solve a prob‐
lem for one person. They are solutions for people that won’t have a
manufactured product created for them. And that is okay, and that is
beautiful, and that is essential. And that is part of redemocratizing
hardware and democratizing the Internet of Things, so that it’s no
longer like the TV industry, where you are sitting and consuming,
hoping for the next Best Buy salesperson to help you. We are look‐
ing for partners, for people with ideas and feedback who want to
work with us.

Solving a Problem for One Person is Beautiful | 15

About the Author
Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits, an award-winning
library of electronics dubbed “LEGOs for the iPad generation.” Bdeir
is an engineer, interactive artist, and one of the leaders of the open
source hardware movement. Bdeir’s career and education have cen‐
tered on advancing open source hardware to make education and
innovation more accessible to people around the world. She is a co-
founder of the Open Hardware Summit, a TED Senior Fellow, and
an alumna of the MIT Media Lab. Bdeir was named one of Inc. Mag‐
azine’s 35 Under 35, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative Peo‐
ple in Business, and one of Popular Mechanics' 25 Makers Who Are
Reinventing the American Dream. littleBits was named as one of
CNN’s top 10 Emerging Startups to watch. Originally from Lebanon
and Canada, Ayah currently lives in New York City.