[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.
Could have done it with a 556:
http://worldtechnical.blogspot.com/2012/02/traffic-lights.html
If you want the blinking yellow light, then you need one 555 and one 4017 counter. In any case, these can be deadbugged into a much smaller space than an Arduino nano, and they’ll use much much less power so you can run it on batteries for longer.
Often a microcontroller can be cheaper, easier and more convenient, but this is a classic case of crying out to do it without one – even if it’s just for a bit more of a challenge.
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
His son is two. It will be 8-10 years before he’ll be able to grasp any of that. By the time, this plaything will be destroyed or lost.
Or what’s more likely, obsolete and not supported by what is then the Arduino du jour.
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
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.
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