Sonic Screwdriver Controls Your TV, Doesn’t Work On Wood

Sure, you could pretend to be the Doctor with a simple plastic sonic screwdriver. It might even have a LED on the tip, and if you’re really splurging a tiny speaker for sound effects. Yep, you could make due with an inelegant version of the Doctor’s Gallifreyan army knife, or you could get this amazingly detailed sonic screwdriver replica.

Instead of a plastic or resin replica, this replica of the 11th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver is made out of die-cast, copper plated metal with a jade green  polycarbonate tip. This replica has a few tricks up its sleeve; instead of just lighting up and providing a few sound effects at opportune times, it also can serve as a programmable infrared remote with a gesture interface  thanks to a three-axis accelerometer. If that’s not enough, the copper ‘rods’ just below the tip also serve as a touch interface for the microcontroller on board.

For as many jaw dropping light saber builds we’ve seen we’re genuinely surprised we haven’t seen more sonic screwdriver builds. It’s really cool this toy can serve as a remote control, but we’re betting a few Hackaday readers can replicate this replica with an extendable jewel cage and maybe even a Bluetooth gesture controller.

If you’d like your own sonic screwdriver, you can pick one up at ThinkGeek (for the US) or Forbidden Planet (for the UK). After the break is a video released by ThinkGeek showing off the this truly awesome remote control.

Tip ‘o the hat to [Zerocool] for sending this one in.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN7lNLzHJv8&w=470]

13 thoughts on “Sonic Screwdriver Controls Your TV, Doesn’t Work On Wood

  1. Far out. The only drawback is needing to find a local with artistic talent to create a decent looking wall hanging to help remember how to control the TV. $100+ is to expensive to risk someone throwing down on the floor in frustration. Now the idea is out there I wonder how long it will be, before a hacker marries an accelerometer to a 10 buck universal remote from Walmart, building a wood model of the Dr. Who prop to put it all in?

    1. – It would be easy enough to add IR control to a magnetic strike for a door, and that would be pretty slick. :-) – I had one of this company’s ‘Wand’ remote, added an IR pickup to my PC, and could then program to do anything you want from the remote – Control Lights, AV system, whatnot…

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