That's an RFID reader with some sort of radio waves stuff attached so it can beam its readings to central server.
We've been wandering round the Media Centre in Huddersfield this afternoon testing it out. My role being to walk off down various corridors carrying that box and shouting "I'm reading the chip now." from the other end.
We're going to use it to create, for want of a better description, social software for the Internet of things.
The radio waves technical wizardry is a spin off from the Tile Toy space race.
