Inspiration
We originally wanted to make a smart dancing disco ball, but then realized not only did it already exist, it was limited in its purpose alone. So, driven to create our first hardware hack and inspired by the prize for best hardware, we decided to build our own cheerful R2-D2 robot!
What it does
R2-D2 is the ultimate late night study buddy or go-to cheer up bot! He will beep at regular intervals to keep you awake and motivated, and flashes his lights to the beat of whatever music you decide to play, so you will never feel alone.
How I built it
The hardware was all done with Arduino, and the droid body itself was made out of used(!) styrofoam cups as a way to recycle and give new life to materials that would have gone to waste.
Challenges I ran into
There was a lot of difficulty staying awake :/
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
We only really made this in the last 12 hours of the hackathon, since we couldn't think of a good enough idea with the equipment we collected and played around with some others in the meantime. Also, for something made out of styrofoam we'd say that R2 is quite a handsome droid.
What I learned
Come prepared to hackathons stocked with sleep and a list of hardware you would need for your idea, because coming up with something useful with leftover hardware is difficult.
What's next for Study Budy
He would have been connected and controllable via Bluetooth, as well as mobile but neither group member had the proper mobile device to do so, and we were unable to find a stepper motor to move R2 around.
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