One Education: Infinity Concept

The Infinity Concept has been two years in development and is in response to a decade of experience of delivering over 50,000 computers to children in disadvantaged communities. The Infinity Concept is a response to three major challenges (two of which compete with one another): equity, e-waste and the digital divide. The modular design reduces the long term cost of technology by allowing children to upgrade individual components - increasing access for all children. Used modules can be donated to further reduce the cost of the technology for other children. Donated or repaired modules reduce e-waste and close the digital divide - creating a more equitable society.

The Infinity Concept was pitched to schools in November/December of 2015. 1,496 units were pre-ordered at an introductory price of $330 per unit. A significant achievement given that schools do not pre-order products and the belief in the concept helped us to validate the demand for technology that would bring down cost and reduce the burden on school administrators to manage technology.

Scale is the key to sustainability. The Infinity has a strong financial basis for success by allowing more frequent upgrades - that in turn allow for subsidies of additional machines (that can use donated modules). Trading modules also allow for cheaper upgrades - not dissimilar to the economic model underpinning the car industry. One Education intends to create an online trading website allowing schools and communities to trade/donate modules across countries - charging transaction fees.

The Infinity Concept is the first truly modular tablet computer that uses an open connector standard. The Infinity Concept is the first computer to utilise USB-C to connect upgradeable modules. The concept has been developed to push the limits of the burgeoning USB-C standard with a ultra high resolution screen. The Infinity is also the first modular device in the world that allows users to explore and understand the internals of a computer (and each module) quickly and easily. The Infinity will also enable schools and users to operate multiple Operating Systems: Windows, Linux and Android - helping schools to avoid lock-in.

The One Education project has already distributed 50,000 computers to disadvantaged children. The Infinity Concept is one component of a larger offering at One Education that includes a charging rack, wireless access points and an operating system called Infinity OS (Android based). One Education aimed to create a more reliable machine, that could last longer and could be maintained by any child - allowing teachers more time to teach and children to learn. One Education computers report usage data and the project is sharing its data with three universities as part of a world first study (ARC linkage grant) to use big-data to explore the impacts of technology in classrooms and home environments.