When we look around us, we see many people with an electronic gadget designed by someone who has followed the advice of the company’s marketing department that has determined what kind of product is needed by the market. When you go to the store you will see the next generation of devices with a range of functions that make it appealing to the different consumers. But since all consumers are different, there is no perfect device that will meet the requirements of every single person.

Now this is changing thanks to Peter Semmelhack, the founder of BugLabs. A few years ago he was inspired by the open source software development that has increased productivity by lowering the barriers to getting involved. Since that was not the case with hardware, he decided to do something about open source hardware. The goal of the company and its founder is to create an environment for the development of a Lego-like collection of open source hardware and software that customers can use to build their own devices. This is achieved through own or joint development with other companies with a similar mind set.

"The mission for us," Semmelhack says, "is to create a platform that allows anyone to build any project they want by snapping it together like Lego. And to have the gadget be reliable, robust, and not too ugly or clunky-looking, and to make it easy to innovate in electronics in a way that hasn't been possible before."

In the foundation of every Bug Labs based product is a Bugbase – the module which consists of a CPU, RAM, battery, USB hubs and other connectors for adding modules running on GNU/Linux. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the company introduced five new modules:

• BUGprojector - a mini DLP projector developed in conjunction with Texas Instruments
• BUGsound - an audio processing module with four stereo input/output jacks, a microphone, a speaker, and builtin hardware codecs
• BUGbee (802.15.4)
• BUGwifi (802.11 and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR), which will let you connect wirelessly with your PAN and WLAN, respectively
• BUG3g GSM - for connecting to networks

The existing and new modules give the user the ability to create additional models as required.

Thinking about the BugLabs approach in light of the recent changes in the PAC industry and the availability and expanding use of IEC 61850, we wonder how long it will take when we will have a PAC Lego – a bunch of hardware modules that can be used to create specific applications, without the need for new hardware development.

For further information on the different BugLabs products and for inspiration, you can go to www.buglabs.net