This year, over 2, 300 teams comprising over 58, 000 students will be building robots based on a common kit of parts.

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And then there is its crowning glory: a wireless broadband digital home entertainment system, installed by Abrocour with a digital kit of parts from Microsoft and Intel, among others, and a BT broadband connection in the broom cupboard.

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And it was developing a mobile DNA sampling kit to match body parts with animals.

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One was a kitchen chemistry set for growing crystals and the other a simple electronics kit, based partially around parts of a Snap Circuits set, that has kids building an electromagnet and lighting up an LED.

ENGADGET

Large parts of Siberia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have not even been explored with modern kit.

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The days when projects ground to a halt for want of a piece of kit, or when customers complained that they could no longer find spare parts for things they had bought, will one day seem quaint.

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Discovery will take parts and supplies to the ISS and test new safety features such as a repair-kit for heatshield tiles and a 15m-long robotic arm that will inspect the shuttle for damage in orbit.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Discovery blasts off from Florida