Meet Nicolas - possibly the youngest SparkFun customer
Check out this pair of projects from a father-son duo!
On our trips out to various Maker Faires, we've seen some pretty young kids go through our soldering classes. It is always a bit heartwarming to see a child take an interest in the things we are so passionate about. It's also amazing to see youngsters under the age of five assemble an electronics kit - I'm pretty sure at five I was busy eating Play-Doh and throwing sand at girls, not learning the basics of embedded electronics
What is the point of this rambling monologue? Well, meet Nicolas, 3.5 years old - possibly SparkFun's youngest customer.
Nicolas' father, Santiago, started by soldering some cables to three basic components (an LED, a switch, and a battery holder). After explaining that each part had two cables, Santiago asked Nicolas to draw a diagram of how to connect the parts - his first "schematic." Check it out!
The first schematic - a right of passage in any young man's life.
Then, Nicolas used scotch tape to piece the components together. When he flipped the switch and the light didn't power on, he debugged the problem with a simple proclamation - "Dada, there are no batteries!" Forgetting batteries? This kid is an engineer in the making.
This kid's future is bright (pun intended).
And there you have it - Nicolas with his very own flashlight inside a very spiffy "custom enclosure." Awesome work Nicolas! While we're at it, we should also mention his father's project - the Bluetooth Ericofon.
50s design work is awesome, even if it is a little strange.
Check out that nifty piece of retro hardware! This is Santiago's Bluetooth Ericofon. It works very similarly to our Bluetooth Port-O-Rotary phone that allows you to connect an old-school handset to your cellphone. This one, however, is built inside the resoundingly cool 1950s Ericofon. For more information about his project (or to buy one of your own), visit Santiago's website.
