Chapter 4. Adafruit Circuit Playground Express

Star Trek is one of my favourite science-fiction universes.

Upon reflection, a big reason for its appeal is that Star Trek’s fictional technology is generally a force for good. It facilitates progress (technology is used to help others), a humane and open-minded outlook (technology allows characters to live, work, and communicate with each other despite physical, physiological, and cultural differences), and fearless exploration of our universe (they fly around in spaceships!).

One of my favourite Star Trek technologies is the “tricorder,” a device used by Mr. Spock, Bones, and others to sense the environment, make computations, and react to things with flashing lights or strange chirruping noises that obviously make perfect sense to citizens in the 23rd century.

I’ve often thought it’d be cool to own such a device.

With Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express, my dream has come true. Even better, it’s fun to imagine Mr. Spock programming such a device in Python.

The tricorder is a classic example of an enchanted device, although not for magical reasons. The imagined technology of the 23rd century is so advanced to our primitive eyes that we react to it in the way Arthur C. Clarke suggests: it’s indistinguishable from magic. The Circuit Playground Express is the antidote to such misplaced wonderment. Because it is tricorder-ish, it’s packed full of sensors and modes of feedback. It lives up to its name: it’s a playground for quickly ...