Stop ‘n Go DUPLO

[beshur]’s 2-year-old is obsessed with transportation, so he lifted a few DUPLO blocks from the bin and made this toy traffic light as a birthday present. Hey, might as well get him used to the realities of traffic, right? It also makes for a good early hacker lesson: why buy something when you can make it yourself?

The traffic pattern is determined by an Arduino Nano V3 situated inside the carved-out rear block. There’s a push button on the side in case there’s a spill and the lights need to go blinking red until the issue is dealt with. Instead of trying to solder everything in situ and risk melting the plastic, [beshur] dead-bugged the LEDs and resistors to the Nano with a helping hands and then worked everything into the case. The 5mm LEDs fit perfectly into the drilled-out posts of a second block and produce a nice, soft glow. Proceed with caution and check it out after the break.

Of course, plastic building blocks can do real work, too. This LEGO chocolate pantograph is pretty sweet.

8 thoughts on “Stop ‘n Go DUPLO

      1. From my (old) hacker perspective that is true but we must also consider other posibilities: e.g. using a microcontroller allows him to easily enable new functions in this toy, e.g. programming different light sequences, responding to external sensors (a toy car with an embedded magnet + reed switch, a “light barrier” with LED + LDR, etc) as a means to introduce his son to the pleasures (?) of logic and programming.

        Best regards,

        A/P Daniel F. Larrosa

        Montevideo - Uruguay

          1. Thanks for your opinion. I think it all depends on how the new features are implemented: e.g. with the mere addition of a potentiometer to set the frequency of change or the LED’s intensity a 2 year old can easily grasp the relation and proportionality between the pot postiion and the variables he will be controlling.

            I did not mean that the toddler will be literally coding the controlling program but with the microcontroller, some programming (by his father) and the right interfaces and input/output devices he can surely do a lot and probably surprise everyone of us…

            Best regards,

            A/P Daniel F. Larrosa

            Montevideo – Uruguay

  1. Intentional or not, but about 30 years ago, I found out that 3mm LED’s are a perfect fit in headlight bricks, and 5mm LED’s fit into a standard Technic hole. I have lit up many buildings, cars and other builds with regular LED’s. When white LED’s became afforable, I built a TV studio with lighting (and many ugly wires, kynar wire was similar to unobtanium, 25 years ago, so I used shellac wire from old transformers), and a Lego discotheque with flashy lights.

    Good times, and they’ve become even better with cheaper and smaller LED’s, and so many ways to drive them.

    1. Very enjoyable ! Reminds me of my own “early years” with Meccano… (no lights there… not even incandescent ones… ) :-)

      Just to complete the picture, can you tell us how old where you then (aprox) ?

      Thanks a lot for sharing those sweet memories.

      Best regards,

      A/P Daniel F. Larrosa

      Montevideo – Uruguay

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