Adafruit loves DIY blimps! We’ve written about many Maker blimps (dirigibles) over the past 10+ years, they are just so cool. And they are ultra-affordable, often using materials already found around the house or at the party store.
What is a blimp? A blimp is a vehicle that uses a gas-filled bag to achieve lift into the atmosphere. You can think of a helium balloon with a string a tethered mini-blimp. Most blimps come with a control mechanism to be able to steer around. The controls don’t have to be electric, but they often are. Using a small motor (like drone motors), a blimp can move around in a controlled manner (similar to full-size blimps).
Would you like to explore projects which resulted in inexpensive controlled blimps? Here is a list of past and present Maker blimps for you to look through:
Keep an eye out for our design work with Crickit on the Adafruit blog.
Show us what blimp projects you know of or are working on in the comments below! Blimps = #MakeRobotFriend!
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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: MicroPython Pico W Bluetooth, CircuitPython 8.0.4 and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
