Using Inputs and Outputs to Make a Toy

April 14, 2016 by Elecia White in Engineering

Having considered digital inputs and outputs, you’ve already seen more than 50% of a toy’s hardware. Oh sure, we should talk about the fancier sensors, motor control, and audio outputs but those are one-offs, specific to a toy’s particular function. Many toys don’t have them or only have one; buttons and lights are enough for some toys...

I’ve mentioned the processors in the toys a few times. I can’t show you what is inside the software (partially because the designers sensibly locked out the ability to read the code from their processors). I can show you how to figure out what is in the software without breaking any laws or copy protection.

Quadcopter Controller: Buttons and Joysticks

March 31, 2016 by Elecia White in Engineering

The quadcopter controller has some normal push buttons which work the same way that the karaoke buttons work. The on/off switch is a slide switch (like karaoke’s on/off switch but its action goes side-to-side instead up-and-down), the rest are momentary buttons. From the outside, it may not be obvious that the controller’s flight trimmer inputs are momentary buttons, they look like rocker switches

Lighting Up the Toys

February 25, 2016 by Elecia White in Engineering

Continuing the Taking Apart Toys series started last week, this post starts looking at LEDs using a multimeter.

Introducing the Toys

February 18, 2016 by Elecia White in Engineering

I'm writing a book about how to learn embedded software concepts by taking apart toys. This is the first chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

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I talk to many engineering friends who say they took apart their toys (and everything else). I was not like that. I didn’t know it was possible to take objects apart. I definitely didn’t know how much I could learn. I never imagined how fun it would be.