this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . october 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message parallax inc. type private industry technology founded 1987 rocklin california headquarters 599 menlo drive suite 100 rocklin california key people ken gracey president chip gracey founder director of research & development products basic stamp parallax sx parallax propeller website www.parallax.com parallax inc. is a privately held company in rocklin california . parallax inc. designs manufactures and sells basic stamp microcontrollers propeller microcontrollers microcontroller accessories such as lcds sensors rf modules etc. educational robot kits and educational curriculum . parallax is headquartered in rocklin . the rocklin office employs thirty five people in research and development sales manufacturing education marketing and technical support . parallax inc. has over seventy distributors around the world 1 including radio shack jameco electronics and fry s electronics . 2 contents 1 history 2 popular chips and robots 2.1 the propeller chip 2.2 the basic stamp and basic stamp 2 2.3 the boe bot 2.4 sensors 3 education 3.1 stamps in class 3.2 propeller education labs 4 featured in magazines 5 unofficial propeller expo 5.1 history 5.2 unofficial propeller expo north east upene 5.3 unofficial propeller expo chicago upec 5.4 unofficial propeller expo west upew 6 the parallax forum 7 products sold 7.1 microcontrollers 7.2 robots 7.3 other products 7.4 discontinued robots and products 7.5 upcoming products 8 references 9 external links history edit originally established in 1987 in rocklin california parallax inc. manufactured products such as the isepic topram and the first third party microchip pic programmer . in 1992 the basic stamp 1 microcontroller module was released . in 1995 the basic stamp 2 module was added to the product lineup . by 2002 there were over three million basic stamp microcontrollers in use around the world . citation needed in 1997 the stamps in class program was created to provide educational resources that addressed the needs of electronic students ages 14 and up . the boe bot is one of the company s most popular products in the educational program . in 1998 parallax inc. formed a partnership with ubicom formerly scenix semiconductor to develop tools and basic stamps using their new sx microcontrollers . company founder chip gracey designed the sx key programming tool to make programming ubicom s sx chips affordable . and in 2005 parallax inc. and ubicom formed an agreement in which parallax inc. was made the exclusive supplier of the sx microcontroller . in 2006 after eight years of development time parallax launched their parallax propeller microcontroller . the propeller 2 multicore processor is under development and does not have a release date yet . the propeller 2 processor includes features commonly requested by customers such as code protection additional ram and more input output pins . popular chips and robots edit the propeller chip edit the propeller is a multicore system that can do real time simultaneous multiprocessing . it uses eight 32 bit cores called cogs controlled by a bus controller called the hub . it can be programmed in assembly c or in the interpreted spin programming language . it comes with a software library of objects for a various sets of input output devices such as uarts and a video display controller emulated fully in software . the propeller is also supported by third party compiler developers who have developed platforms in c and basic . the parallax propeller is also recognized as being easy to program . 3 the basic stamp and basic stamp 2 edit released in 1995 the basic stamp was so named because it was about the size of a postage stamp . programmed in pbasic the basic stamp found an audience in electronic hobbyists with powerful i o commands that made it easy to connect to other electronic components . 4 the boe bot edit the boe bot is a programmable wheeled robot with a basic stamp 2 brain that is used by educators and hobbyists . after being introduced in 1998 it is one of parallax s top selling robots . sensors edit parallax manufactures sensors to measure distance color humidity temperature pressure rpms heat and altitude . these sensors are either surface mounted components on a printed circuit board or in packages that are readily acceptable for breadboard style mounting . each sensor is supported with educational curriculum and documentation . education edit stamps in class edit launched in 1997 stamps in class curriculum was designed to introduce students and educators to basic stamp microcontrollers using software basics circuit building and simple hardware . one tutorial in the stamps in class series is the boe bot a simple yet versatile rolling robot that has a basic stamp brain . 5 propeller education labs edit the propeller education program was developed to teach how to operate the propeller chip . the propeller features eight 32 bit processors . the propeller education program demonstrates how to program the microcontroller for use in process control measurement and signal generation and robotics . the program is designed for engineering students who have product design requirements in their curriculum . 6 featured in magazines edit filling a niche in the technology market by offering robotics for hobbyists enthusiasts and students parallax has been featured in magazines including make magazine servo magazine robot magazine and nuts and volts . unofficial propeller expo edit history edit the original upe the unofficial propeller expo north east upene was hosted by a long time parallax forum member oldbitcollector . he labeled it unofficial so hobbyists could meet and exchange projects ideas and advice about parallax robotics without getting permission to host an official propeller expo . however parallax came on board and now many parallax employees can be found at each expo talking with hobbyists students and inventors . 7 unofficial propeller expo north east upene edit the upene was an annual event located in norwalk ohio at the norwalk community center . the expo consists of educators engineers hobbyists and students setting up tables and sharing their experiments demonstrations and products based on or inspired by microcontrollers such as the parallax propeller . the upene was the first of the three existing upe s. 8 as parallax unofficially sponsors the expo the company was joined by a second sponsor the company gadget gangster . unofficial propeller expo chicago upec edit the upec also known as the chicagoland propeller expo was a one day event held at the 807 building in ottawa illinois . 9 unofficial propeller expo west upew edit the upew was the only one of the three upe s to be located at parallax s offices in rocklin california . this upe also offers a special educator s course hosted by parallax s engineer and author andy lindsay . 10 the parallax forum edit before 2004 the parallax product user support forum was hosted in yahoo discussion groups . in 2004 this discussion group was moved from yahoo to parallax forums located through parallax s website . members frequently discuss projects programming and products designed around the basic stamp and propeller chip . also students can use the forums as a place to ask questions and receive direction to solve homework and projects . 11 products sold edit microcontrollers edit basic stamp propeller robots edit boe bot activitybot robot shield with arduino sumobot scribbler 2 elev 8 quadcopter other products edit ping ultrasonic distance sensor rfid reader module 12 spinneret web server 13 board discontinued robots and products edit scribbler 14 penguin robot small two legged walking robot 15 hexcrawler 16 parallax had teamed up with crust crawler robotics to create the hexcrawler . toddler two legged walking robot 17 parallax sx javelin stamp spin stamp hydra game development kit upcoming products edit propeller 2 references edit archived copy . archived from the original on june 23 2010 . retrieved june 25 2010 . archived copy . archived from the original on june 27 2008 . retrieved june 25 2010 . archived copy . archived from the original on february 2 2010 . retrieved june 29 2010 . nuts & volts may 2007 . nutsvolts.texterity.com . 2007 04 21 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . parallax inc equip your genius . parallax.com . 2016 06 13 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . parallax inc equip your genius . parallax.com . 2016 06 13 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . archived copy . archived from the original on june 28 2010 . retrieved june 24 2010 . archived copy . archived from the original on august 10 2010 . retrieved june 24 2010 . upec unofficial propeller expo chicago tickets sat jun 25 2011 at 10 00 am eventbrite . upec.eventbrite.com . retrieved 2016 06 25 . archived copy . archived from the original on june 22 2010 . retrieved june 24 2010 . archived copy . archived from the original on june 27 2010 . retrieved june 24 2010 . make volume 06 . make digital.com . 2006 04 26 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . parallax inc equip your genius . parallax.com . 2016 06 13 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . scribbler 2 s2 robot usb 28136 parallax inc . parallax.com . retrieved 2016 06 25 . parallax inc equip your genius . parallax.com . 2016 06 13 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . hexcrawler hexapod robot . crustcrawler.com . 2009 06 22 . retrieved 2016 06 25 . archived copy . archived from the original on june 28 2010 . retrieved june 25 2010 . external links edit official website uk official distributor parallax forums parallax events photos v t e robot kits kits bioloid boe bot g dog hero discontinued i bot mindstorms ris nxt ev3 qfix srv 1 stiquito svs tekbots tetrix the robotic workshop discontinued vex wonderborg software aforge.net companies hobby products international kondo lego lynxmotion parallax robotshop tamiya thinklabs braigo see also robot robotics suite adaptable robotics retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title parallax inc. company & oldid 738132628 categories companies based in placer county californiaelectronics companies of the united statesmanufacturing companies based in californiaprivately held companies based in californiahidden categories wikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from october 2012pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2008official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store 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