Xut: The Animatronic Penguin #EdgeBadge #CircuitPython @E14Community
fmilburn writes on the Element14 Community blog about Xut, the animatronic penguin.
The design and fabrication of the penguin body and the mechanics of the motorized wings were described in detail in the first post. Briefly, the body was freehand sketched and roughly dimensioned. It was then modeled and tweaked in Fusion 360 and printed in PLA on an Anycubic I3 Mega 3D printer. The mechanical modifications since that time are limited to minor aesthetic modifications to the wings and the addition of a speaker inside the body. Hot glue and cyanoacrylate adhesive (superglue) was used to secure everything.
An Adafruit EdgeBadge was also wired securely to the motors and speakers.
As for software:
The script uses a CircuitPython PyBadge Conference Badge example as an outline and can be found here. In addition, Adafruit libraries for motors and audio have been added so that the wings can flap and Xut can talk. The buttons on the EdgeBadge are used to select the jokes. The EdgeBadge also advertises Xut’s presence when he isn’t telling a joke by flashing the LEDs in a pattern and displaying his name and instructions.
See the post for additional details.
See more about the Adafruit EdgeBadge and CircuitPython.