toys

Twitchie Scorpion

Twitchie Scorpion

I made this scorpion toy with a Twitchie Robot Kit. I’m really afraid of scorpions where I live in Arizona, so I thought a friendly toy would help me get used to them. I made his plush body from some fabric I had around, aiming to make him look like an Arizona bark scorpion, which are tan/yellowish/translucent. Twitchie is Arduino powered and comes pre-programmed, so it’s an excellent kit for beginners in robotics, because no programming is required! You can download and modify the code if you want, and it’s pretty light on the soldering, too. I’d recommend Twitchie for young makers (boys & girls, too!) interested in robotics or moving plush toys. You can buy the Twitchie Robot Kit in the Maker Shed:
http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKTET2

Music is “At the Crack of Noon” by Shuutobi, http://shuutobi.com

Bowl made from melted little green army men

Bowl made from melted little green army men

Dominic Wilcox wants £159 for his 2002 piece War Bowl, which may make some amount of sense since Wilcox is a fairly well-established “name” artist, and the piece itself has been exhibited in various fancy places. Still, you can make your own version by partially melting a bunch of army men in a glass or metal bowl in the oven, and it’ll cost you just a buck or two. [via Gizmodo]

How-To: Make an inverting top

An inverting or tippe top is a classic physics toy: a spinning top that spontaneously inverts itself to spin on its handle at high speed, then rolls back over onto its base when it stops. Turns out, four spheres joined in a close-packed tetrahedron will do the same thing, and this quick video tutorial from YouTuber VTK9990 shows one made from four marbles and some epoxy. [via The Automata / Automaton Blog]

How-To: Musical Drawdio Puppet

By Angela Sheehan Conductive fabric/thread and a few electronic parts transform this seemingly ordinary plushie into a fun, playable instrument. This octopus jellyfish-inspired puppet lets you make different squeaky sounds using an embedded Drawdio. Hold the puppet by putting one hand in the loop on its belly. Use the other hand to touch conductive spots […]