Electronics – without all those poisonous fumes

I’ve always wanted to dabble in simple electronics, but it seems so difficult – my dad has this giant – nay, Brobdingnagian – catalog of electronic components that you’re supposed to go through to look for parts. Once you figure out a list of things, you have to go to these electronic shops crammed with unlabeled bins of colour-coded resistors which for some reason you’re supposed to be able to read off the top of your head, run by grumpy old men and patronized by nerdy, sweaty male types -  and all these men, staring at you while you try to look like you know what you’re doing – it’s all very awkward and unpleasant.*

(At least, that’s what the shop near my place in Singapore was like, the first (and last) time I went. No doubt the shops in the US are better! Right?)

And after all that, you need to have a soldering iron. I do not have a soldering iron, and nowhere safe to put one if I did, so that was that.

Or was it?

It seems that some folks over at the MIT Media Lab solved my problems.

The High-Tech Low-Tech research group came up with a ton of ways to make circuits – without relying on traditional circuit boards, soldering techniques, and the usual parts. Instead you craft your circuits using art materials like silver paint and etchings! It’s a nice way of merging technical knowledge with a more visceral, expressive aesthetic.

Applications – would I be able to embed a circuit in Sugru, for example? Or use conductive paint to make the Monopoly Board sitting on my shelf more interesting? Hmmm.

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*A separate thought: there are places and environments out there that can make do with a thorough redesign. Seriously. Would it kill you to label your stock?? Or to lower the barrier of entry for the beginning amateur? No wonder you don’t see more women in electrical and electronic engineering.