Add Some Fluff

Published on 2023-10-24 in Wee Bug.

I intentionally make my robots minimal in terms of additional aesthetics, to make them easier to make and customize for others. But sometimes you just want to have some fun, so when I saw this bunny- shaped ipods case, I knew what I need to do:

It’s just the right say to fit the Wee Bug’s body inside, minus the battery. I just had to dremel two large holes in the bottom for the legs, and replace the battery holder with a more traditional pouch lipo battery.

I also glued some small magnets to the lid and the case, to make the lid stay closed more firmly. As the microcontroller, this time I used a Waveshare RP2040 Zero board, so I have a bunch of extra pins at the bottom, that are not used by the servos. I added some wires to them, to potentially make use of them later. I think I will need at least one pin for an infrared remote control sensor, because that board doesn’t have wifi for control. I have some sensors that look like small black eyes, so that should work pretty well. In the mean time I used a single goggly eye, just for some added character.

While obviously this is a custom job, I think that ipod cases are a standardized and common enough thing for other people to be able to do similar things with them. It’s a bit of shame that I couldn’t keep the standard and replaceable battery.