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Easy Bluetooth prototyping system leads to rash of new ideas

An astonishing slew of prototype wireless-enabled products was revealed at CeBIT by Swedish Bluetooth specialist ConnectBlue, which is providing a development system that gets newcomers into wireless with minimal effort.

One example of the prototyping kit the company does for other developers would be its "Web enabler" which "turns your product into a device with a Web based user interface" according to marketing director Pelle Svensson of ConnectBlue

"You can create the user interface using standard HTML tools, and it can be accessed from a standard PC or PDA using Bluetooth add-ins. Or else, you could use our simple serial-cable replacement, which plugs into the serial port of any industrial equipment, and frees it from the tether."

Svennson demonstrated an automated LEGO robot with a built-in control system, operated by pressing buttons on a Compaq Bluetooth-enabled iPaq handheld pocket PC.

"We see plenty of possible applications in industry for getting rid of cables with Bluetooth, but generally, people don't have time to develop them, because of the long prototyping phase. We can get them experimenting very quickly," he said.

The company also has a software development kit.

Examples of people who went this way would include Tool-Tribe. This company had a whiteboard product, connected to a PC. All they did was remove the serial cable link, and substitute the connectBlue serial port adapter for the serial cable. Another sample: Phoenix Contacts, which used an Ethernet Bridge, acting as a transparent link between two LAN networks.