Raspberry Pi brings GitHub’s Octocat to life, with moving tentacles
Anyone who’s been to GitHub before has no doubt come across the unforgettable Octocat mascot. Its pointy ears and friendly smile accompany a wide library of code shared by thousands of people over the years. Today we’ve got an adorable Raspberry Pi project to share created by the Infineon Team who’s using a Pi to bring the GitHub Octocat mascot to life.
The team is using pneumatics to make silicone tentacles flap on command. The Pi is able to address each tentacle using Infineon’s new DC Motor Control HAT.
The head for Octocat was 3D printed using an FDM printer and finished by hand with paint. The tentacles, however, are another story. To create these, the team designed and printed a couple of molds and used silicone to form them. Each tentacle is controlled using pneumatic valves connected to the Infineon DC Motor Control HAT.
This project hits multiple maker technologies: Raspberry Pi, pneumatics, GitHub.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
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 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Diving into the Raspberry Pi RP2350, Python Survey Results and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey