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Archive for December, 2009

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digital analog serial parallel.

Published December 23rd, 2009 in toyhacking | No Comments »

Last Monday I checked out O’Sullivan and Igoe’s Physical Computing from the library and started reading it earlier today. It’s putting my scattered mind into place. Now I know that toy 1 has digital I/O (input/output) and serial events, toy 2 has digital I/O and parallel events, and toy 3 has analog I/O and serial events.

Projects with digital I/O and serial events, like toy 1, are “easy.” Projects with digital I/O and parallel events like toy 2 are “time consuming, but not too hard.” Projects with analog I/O and serial events, in my case toy 3, are a “bit more difficult”. “The most challenging” projects, according to the book, are ones that have analog I/O and parallel events.

I want to eventually get to projects that have analog I/O and parallel events. That would be a perfect exercise. But first things first.

toy three.

Published December 22nd, 2009 in toyhacking | No Comments »

Before I bought any of my toys, during one of my WiFi trips to Macca’s I considered contributing to the giga-franchise as I have used a considerable amount of its free internet connection. I bought what they called the “Happy Meal,” and as part of the ritual had to choose a toy right after I paid. I chose one. Last night I thought of opening this toy as well, but was discouraged by it’s weird-looking screw. It looks like it needs a triangle-shaped screwdriver.
toy2a
So I gave up on Macca’s toy, and went on to toy 3.
toy3
Toy 3, as I have described, is quite exciting because its seemingly digital sensor actually activates a physical motor.
Unfortunately the little reading/writing light is broken now. It was working when I tried it the first time, then it simply stopped working. It might be just a bulb problem. I hope it is.
toy3_1
It was exciting to find out that the machine actually uses both sides of its shell. Apparently the lock mechanism doesn’t only depend on that purple plastic bar, but also a purple latch on the back shell.
toy3_2
When I press the purple button, the woman’s voice is triggered. What she says, however, depends on some sort of memory. The voice comes out through that speaker, and at the same time something triggers the green light on. The mic is simultaneously activated.
toy3_3
The mic then “listens” to a soundwave, and apparently would send the soundwave to the board to be matched. The board triggers the woman’s voice again, depending on some sort of memory. At the same time, depending on the result of the matching process, the purple bar will be triggered to move.
toy3_4
The small copper-coloured beam with the black plastic head seems to be triggered by something to help the purple bar move to open the lock.

Up until now, however, everything is merely seeming to be so and so. Boring. I should kick myself in the butt to go on, coward. Electrify Christmas!

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