What is "tinkerforge"

Tinkerforge is an open source hardware platform of stackable microcontroller building blocks (Bricks) that can control different modules (Bricklets). The primary communication interface of the building blocks can be extended using Master Extensions. The hardware can be controlled by external programs written in C, C++, C#, Object Pascal, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Shell and VB.NET over a USB, Wifi or Ethernet connection, and running on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. This non-embedded programming approach eliminates the typical requirements and limitations (development tools, limited availability of RAM and processing power) of conventional embedded software development (such as Arduino). Tinkerforge hardware and software are both Open Source, and all files are hosted on GitHub.

The computer magazine Chip awarded Tinkerforge 2012 the "Product of the Year" award.