I had previously seen how to hack these by using an IR transmitter and LIRC, but this meant externally mounting the hardware and I wanted this to be a more subtle hack.
It took me a while, but I finally got round to working out how to hack it. There were two possible approaches
Tap into the Infra-red signal line and fake the remote control
Completely replace the main circuit board and control the motors and sensors directly.
I opted for the first option as it is less of a hardware headache. Option 2 would require handling 7 motors with 4 h-bridges, along with a number of switches to detect maximum movement as well as “bumps” on feet and fingers, so that’s a project for another day!
Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!
Eink, E-paper, Think Ink – Collin shares six segments pondering the unusual low-power display technology that somehow still seems a bit sci-fi – http://adafruit.com/thinkink
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: COVID tracking, OSHWA proposals and much more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF