I know this is probably a little off topic, but this seemed like something that the community might like to hear about for prototyping and as a breadboard alternative. This is a ballpoint pen with conductive ink for creating circuits on paper or any other surface you want to write on.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/electroninks/circuit-scribe-draw-circuits-instantly
Comments
it looks cool. if it hasn't been "videoshopped" and really works as well as they show it would have lots of uses - it would be cool to draw a circuit and see if it works... i wonder if it comes with an eraser?
timmy
I just thought it was a cool new take on something that has historically been messy and/or toxic. It may not fall under the inventive category except for the unique chemical make up and new branding, but I thought it was cool enough for people to look at. Also, since it is possible to play with some other components like potentiometers, resistors, and transistors it might be worth using to teach the basics of electronics with.
Radio Shack had those forever. They used nasty heavy metal beads suspended in fluid. So now they're trying a lead free suspension & focusing on LEDs that tolerate higher resistance.
I hate to say this, especially considering they seem to be approaching double their stated goal. but this isn't new.
There were circuit draw pens back in the 1960's that worked like this, albeit not very well and it was easy to get open circuits by flexing the paper too much.
Probably with modern chemistry they have gotten it to work better, but they sure didn't "invent" this.