Fu-Shing Sun and Paul Gestwicki have received a grant of 7 Sun SPOT development kits from Sun Microsystems valued at $550 per kit. SPOT stands for "Small Programmable Object Technology"

The Sun SPOT device is a small, wireless, battery powered experimental platform. It is programmed almost entirely in Java to allow regular programmers to create projects that used to require specialized embedded system development skills. The hardware platform includes a range of built-in sensors as well as the ability to easily interface to external devices.

Each SPOT kit contains two complete, free-range Sun SPOTs (with processor, radio, sensor board and battery) and one basestation Sun SPOT (with processor and radio). Also included are all the software development tools and cables required to start developing applications for Sun SPOTs. The wireless technology employed is IEEE 802.14

Infoworld places the Sun SPOT as a the #1 item on its list of 8 "must have gadgets for the discerning geek."