Many design challenges ask participants to toss together some parts, blink a few LEDs, and write a bit of code for a shot at a prize. The NXP mbed Design Challenge 2010 was different. It was administered for the higher purpose of encouraging designers around the world to help make embedded design a more accessible, productive, and community-oriented endeavor.

The rapid prototyping revolution began back in September 2010 when designers from such diverse locations as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, India, and Taiwan started working with their mbed NXP LPC1768 prototyping boards. The challenge was to use the board, the mbed online "Cloud" compiler, and the mbed community resources to develop an innovative hardware- or software-based application.

The project submission period ended February 28, 2011. Soon thereafter, the judges began scoring the projects on their technical merit, originality, usefulness, cost-effectiveness, and design optimization. And now the judges' results are final. Congratulations to all of the winners!

First Prize

(VI)sualizer: A Smart Electronic Load
Hexley Ball

Second Prize

mbos: A Real-Time Operating System for mbed
Andrew Levido

Third Prize

CNC Panel Cutter
James Koehler

Honorable Mention

STN LCD Controller Library
Matt Bommicino

menbed: A Universal Menu System Library
Kyle Gilpin

mbed Net Meter: A Wall Clock Display of Real-Time Network Traffic
Bruce Lightner

QRSS Grabber
Clayton Gumbrell

AC Tester
Kevin Gorga

Click here for the Distinctive Excellence projects