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Breadboard Laboratory Interface Processor (BLIP)

Project Overview

The BLIP project was begun by George Stetten and David Weiser in May 2004. BLIP stands for Breadboard Laboratory Interface Processor. The goal of this project was to provide a multi-functional device that connects to personal computers for students in the Bioinstrumentation course at the University of Pittsburgh Bioengineering Department. In this course, students learn the basics of electronics and instrumentation by constructing and analyzing circuits on breadboards. The BLIP device, once constructed by the student, provides the following laboratory instrumentation functions:

The latest version of the BLIP, developed by George Stetten and Jake Donovan, uses an Arduino Micro and has thus been renamed, the Micro-BLIP. It has USB connectivity, so the student can connect to his/her Windows, Mac, or GNU/Linux based system, and immediately begin utilizing the different functions of the device with virtually no external software. A wide range of existing programs on the host computer, such as word processors and spreadsheets, can receive BLIP's information, because it appears to the computer as if it were being typed on a keyboard.

The BLIP is no longer used in this course (BIOENG 1310).