A new way of no-solder prototyping

At SwitchDoc Labs, I have been building prototypes for engineering projects for many years. Sometimes these prototypes become a product, sometimes not. Meanwhile, I have been on the lookout for a good pluggable prototyping system that allows me to swap out parts and yet has a good mechanical interface. I've looked at a variety of systems over the years. What did I want? I wanted something that is supported by a number of manufacturers, has no licensing fees, is easy for beginners and younger folks to use, is straightforward enough that I can build boards without much problem, and is flexible enough for use with all three of the small-board computers I use regularly: the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and ESP8266. I've now found such a system that has some significant support in the industry: the Grove system.

The Grove System

Grove is a modular prototyping system with a standardized connecter that takes a building block approach to assembling electronics. Compared with jumper- or solder-based systems, it is easier to connect modules, experiment, and build projects, and it simplifies the learning system, but not to the point of dumbing the process down to playing with blocks. The Grove system allows you to build real systems and requires some knowledge and expertise to hook things up.

The Grove system consists of a base unit (stem) and various modules (twigs) with standardized connectors. SeeedStudio [1], the company originating the Grove system, has introduced the use of "stems" and "twigs" as part of the Grove lexicon. After some consideration, I'm dropping those names. They just aren't needed and can confuse the issue.

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