It’s not every day that I get my hands on a device that acts as both a microcontroller platform and a kid’s toy, but this month Matt Brailsford decided to break the pattern. Known in maker circles as ‘Circuitbeard’, Brailsford has been designing a virtual pet with which to gently steer the next generation of tinkerers.
Brailsford tells me that the prototype he’s given to me is identical in most ways to the finished design, except that it’s slightly bulkier and has the button assignments backwards. Designed as a standalone device that can be connected to a PC for programming, I supply power to the prototype and it loads the default sketch: a Tamagotchi-inspired virtual pet.
A face appears on the 8x8 LED grid that takes up the front of the laser-cut casing, and runs through various animation cycles – including ‘talking’, in which the mouth opens and a friendly buzz is emitted through a builtin piezoelectric speaker. The two buttons on the top edge can be used to interact with the creature, while the laser-cut plastic chassis includes various arms and ears that can be posed according to the owner’s whim.
The outside is what will attract the kids, but it’s the internals that are of real interest. The Petduino is based, as the name suggests, around an Arduino Nano clone, soldered to the rear of the board. The Arduino is entirely stock, which means complete compatibility with the usual Arduino IDE. A Petduino, in other words, isn’t limited to being a kid’s toy: its LED display can be used to show whatever you like, including graphs of its on-board temperature and light sensors – you can expand on these sensors too, either manually or by using one of a planned series of add-on devices Brailsford has up his sleeve.
‘I chose the “pet” concept, as I think it’s a great way to get people emotionally attached to their device, and to not see it as just a bunch of electrical components, but beyond this concept, there’s a lot more you can do with the Petduino than just using it as an interactive pet,’ Brailsford told me when we were first discussing his project. ‘I’ve built a handful of games such as Snake, Flappy Bird and a mini version of Dance Dance Revolution, as well as a bunch of musical instruments such as a sequencer and a Theremin, and I’ve even been playing with connecting a Petduino to the Internet so that it can respond and interact with a whole heap of other devices.’
Because the source code for all the above is available to users, the Petduino makes it easy for beginners to get started. Even in its initial release, Brailsford has provided several personalities for the device – Robot, Rabbit, Mouse, Monster, Dog and Cat – along with examples for scrolling text, playing music and using the on-board sensors. The all-in-one design has another benefit too: you can get started as soon as the kit is built, and all the parts are guaranteed to be compatible.
The Petduino is clearly aimed more at the young and the young-at-heart than the hardcore hacker, but its low cost (Brailsford is aiming to get the final release version down to around £25-£30 inc VAT, plus postage) and attractive design mean it’s likely to find plenty of interest from makers and educators alike. Add in the ability to design a custom virtual pet for your child – or yourself, let’s be honest here – and I reckon Brailsford is going to be a very busy man when the orders start flooding in.
More information on the Petduino – including the ordering page, when the launch finally occurs – can be found on http://circuitbeard.co.uk