Toys and Games

Snoozy sloth, the breathing plushie

Snoozy sloth, the breathing plushie

Justin Blinder, a student at Parsons, created this plushie doll that clings to you and snoozes, like a living critter: Snoozy the Sloth is a plush toy with a respiratory system. He sleeps while clinging onto a user, allowing them to feel both the contraction and expansion of his chest, as well exhaling of air […]

Giant net-enabled Etch A Sketch

Does this hacker ever sleep? The prolific Jeri Ellsworth is at it again. Here, she builds a 52″ Etch a Sketch with the screen from a rear-projection TV, some tent poles, screen door pulleys, some cheap Harbor Freight drill motors, a golf tee (for the stylus), and some aluminum powder. They also designed a web […]

Tabletop pinball from scrap

Tabletop pinball from scrap

Seamster put his collection of scrap wood to good use in the form of the above-seen DIY pinball machine, even reusing the ball from an old computer mouse – With some parental help, this can be a kid-friendly project. Building a solid table with a functioning paddle assembly requires some basic woodworking skills, and may […]

Guitar Hero robot in action

Guitar Hero robot in action

It’s exciting to see this project progressing: first, Joe Bowers sent us his Arduino-based note visualizer (it blinked LEDs in sequence with the game’s notes). Now, he’s grafted the Guitar Hero controller’s board onto it. Joe mentioned having some difficulty sensing notes when the flame effects burst around the fret board. He’s had pretty good […]

Xbox Macro Controller

Xbox Macro Controller

Joe Bowers built this Macro Controller for his Xbox 360. It uses an Arduino receiving inputs from a Wii Classic Controller. The Arduino outputs into a wireless XBox Controller. It functions like a normal controller, but when you press the shoulder buttons and the “+,-” buttons, you get combo moves that would normally require more […]