LEGO figurines make great wire holders, and that’s exactly what the makers of the SmartiPi Raspberry Pi case had in mind when they built this accessory.
The problem with things built out of LEGO bricks is that they play a cosmetic role most often, and they lack functionality. That’s certainly not the case with the SmartiPi Raspberry Pi case, which enables you to build upon it and add functionality as you go. Using LEGO figurines as cable holders is only one of the great things people loving the Danish bricks could do with this Raspberry Pi B+ case.
Thomas Murray, the industrial designer who came up with the idea of building a LEGO case for the Raspberry Pi, recounts how fascinated he was with the versatility and affordability of the B+ model. However, when he looked for a case to match, none of his findings were as versatile or affordable as the credit card-sized computer itself. With that in mind, he proceeded to creating his own.
The SmartiPi case enables people to attach a GoPro camera and connect it to the Raspberry Pi B+ computer. SmartiPi provides access to all of the computer’s ports, not to mention that it also includes 3 holes that line up with 75mm VESA mounts. This enables people to attach the case to the back of a monitor, so that the computer is inconspicuous. The is held together by four screws, so assembling it should really be effortless. It’s also possible to stack multiple SmartiPi cases one on top of another, should you need to use more than one in the same location.
The SmartiPi Raspberry Pi B+ LEGO case, as well as its camera counterpart, are currently the subject of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Anyone pledging $13 as an early bird, or $17 as a regular backer should expect to get the Raspberry Pi and camera case in January 2015, assuming that the project gets funded. Murray is already half-way there, as people pledged more than 50 percent of the $14K required for mass-producing this case. At the time of writing there were 25 more days to go until the end of the campaign, and I’m confident that it will be a successful one.
Watch Tom Murray explaining how he was motivated to build the case. The most interesting features of the case are also detailed in the above video. Have a look at it and decide for yourself if the SmartiPi case is worth it.
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