Making Rudolph’s Nose Internet Connected With LittleBits

Give Rudolph and internet connected nose with LittleBits. via instructables

Picture of Rudolph’s Nose – Internet Connected!

Through the “magic” of wireless power transfer, Rudolph’s nose glows brightly when he is near his beloved, Clarice. Using the cloudBit and an IFTTT recipe, Rudolph’s nose also glows brightly when there is snow in my area or when the Norad Santa tracker, @noradsanta tweets.

I made this project to meet several design requirements. Here were my goals:

Test if I could embed and bake electronic components in polymer clay.
Try wireless power transfer for the first time.
Design a littleBits compatible, interactive toy that could work offline.
Give the user option of using the toy as an internet connected device.
Repair Rudolph’s broken tail.

Keep both deer functional as ornaments to hang on the tree.

PARTS

1 x Rudolph ornament
1 x Clarice ornament
Super Sculpey – use this to make the character’s snowy ground and to encapsulate the electronics
AND/OR make your own figures from scratch!
1 x rectifier diode
1 x 100 ohm resistor (brown, black, brown stripes)
enamel coated magnet wire – around 26 gauge will do fine. I used 26 gauge for the secondary coil and 30 gauge for the primary coil; testing showed me that for this design 30 gauge worked for both coils. Both sizes can be found in Radio Shack part # 278-1345
1 x 2N2222 NPN transistor
solder (use lead free for toys)
1 x hot glue stick
tinfoil for baking
white acrylic craft paint
1 x small red led
2 inches, small shrink wrap tubing
2 – 4 inches insulated wire as needed
5V regulated power source for testing (i.e. 1 x littleBits p1 power and 1 x 9V battery)
1 x littleBits USB power – for use with cloud
1 x littleBits button
1 x littleBits CloudBit
1 x male Bitsnap – purchase in a pack or as part of the littleBits HDK

TOOLS

soldering iron
helping hands
breadboard(s) for testing
wire cutter / stripper
paint brush
hot glue gun
computer with internet access
oven
cookie sheet

Full tutorial


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1 Comment

  1. Hi. I’m Jude Brisson, and this is my project. I go by JackANDJude on some sites.

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