Thursday, December 31, 2015

Rolling Sphere Test....

BB-8 isn't too happy about this next video.  We're trying to make sure the sphere concept is sound before we add the motors & everything, so here goes....

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Lego BB-8 and MCK-Y!



More pix of us (& L3-G0) at the Pacific Science Center's Discovery Circle Gala on Flickr.

I'm also on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

BB-8 Talks!

A full size Lego BB-8 is nice and cool, but wouldn't it be better if he acted like BB-8?

The first step to doing that would be to get him to talk!  So here goes!  Looks way better with some animated LEDs!



Yea, I know he needs the newer sounds, but the movie just came out you know?

His "voice" is a Windows Phone connected with a Y cable to a portable Bluetooth speaker and the microcontroller that does the LED levels.  The LEDs are little RGB chips that can be individually programmed.

I had to shave the front brick a little to get it thin enough to light up well, but I think it looks pretty good.  (Before shaving it was just a little yellow dot.  Interesting that the brick turned the light yellow).