UK media broadcaster BBC, has an active R&D department charged with exploring technologies that will benefit their public viewer audience. A team of their engineers have developed a specification for the Universal Control API for embedded platforms, which is designed to allow the core functionality of any network-connected set-top box, personal video recorder, Internet radio or similar device to be controlled from client software running on another device on the home network.

So what does this have to do with mbed?

Well, BBC Industrial Trainee placement Andrew Bonney demonstrated the Universal Control API by building an mbed-based TV-controlled Dalek which synchronises with a particular Dr Who episode and mimics the onscreen cyborg. The Dalek prototype, equipped with an mbed and Wi-Fi module, communicates real time with an experimental set-top box hosting the Universal Control API in order to synchronise the movement.

The project is described in the BBC R&D blog; you should be able to spot a few references to the mbed microcontroller in the video.

If you are interested, you can find out more about the BBC Trainee Technologist scheme. Maybe one of you could get a place working on another mbed-based project with the team at the BBC!