Is modular hardware the future for hobbyist electronics or ingeneral electronics???

[IOT_guy]

Hi All,
This is my first post here, please forgive me if i am asking the wrong question.
so I just saw this new Arduino Kickstarter and they are pushing this modular hardware concept. Although this is not the first company who is trying to that there are so many other companies who are trying to do this since years.
Modular hardware has so many advantages like you don't thave to worry about the soldering, you can still make prototypes without knowing much about hardware, easy to assamble, long lasting, you can use them again and again and ideal for software guys.
BUT at the same time if people don't do soldering and make prototypes on breadboard how they will understand the complexity of hardware.
so is this the future of hardware???

After digging few minutes found out these are the few companies who are pushing modular hardware with hundreds of devices.
https://www.arduino.cc/
https://www.controleverything.com/
https://www.seeedstudio.com/

Thanks !!

 

[Ralston18]

Soldering is becoming a lost art in many ways.

Most products are not made to be repaired as that can be costly and leave the manufacturer liable (rightly or wrongly) for lawsuits if someone burns themselves, their house, etc. attempting a repair.

For the most part, hobbyists restoring old devices with circuit boards and soldering will probably be the last of the soldering breed. Or some rare individuals who may find themselves in remote isolated situations (outer space) with the need to fix or rig up something.

Cheaper for manufacturers to use modular design so if something must be repairable it is unplugged and a new module plugged in. Quicker than a trained/educated, skilled human spending even a few minutes desoldering and resoldering. And maybe making a human mistake in the process. Machines can roll in a faulty product, plug in a diagnostic connection, scan, find the problem "module" and robotically make a swap. Maybe in just seconds. Especially with components and circuit boards becoming miniturized to be smaller, lighter, less power hungry, and still do more.

You can still breadboard using modular units: I know kids who have a lego-like board that permits them to snap in batteries, resistors, capacitors, motors, leds, and various other components to create and test various circuits.

The wires have snaps on each end and components can be stacked up with a common junction points.

Kids create counting circuits, flash LED patterns, play musical tones. All sorts of things. Advanced "accessories" control robotic like devices, allow wireless control via smart phones or computers.

Not exactly the same as breadboarding every single component but at some point everyone graduates to the point where some modular timer makes more sense than cobbling one up every time....

There is a lot to be said about the differences between knowing and understanding.

Yes. I will go out on the proverbial limb and say that modular is the future. And actually "modular" has been going on in many ways for quite some time.... Look inside a desktop computer: Memory modules, GPU, sound card. Tools are modular: one screwdriver handle and a handful of insertable bits. Lots of examples out there.

Does not mean that I necessarily like or endorse modularity per se. Its just another form (for better or worse) of change.