Planet Arduino

As a gift for his sister-in-law who runs a daycare, “r570sv” built a NASA-inspired control panel for the kids there to use. She had enjoyed seeing an earlier – and perhaps less kid-friendly – version that he made, so this would seem to be a great Christmas present.

The device is constructed out of plywood, painted, and decorated with various space emblems. Electronics are attached via six bolt-on panels, with four containing simple lights and switches, and the other two featuring individual Arduino boards. One of these flashes different LED patterns depending on which of its two buttons are pushed, and the other uses an encoder and screen to scroll though numbers.

As shown in the video below, with a little child-like imagination, it would be perfect for all kinds of adventures!

We are absolutely blown away by the level of detail that went into this amazing mission control panel that [Jeff Highsmith] made for his son.

His kid just started school and needed a desk to do homework on. They had recently visited the Kennedy Space Center, and his son found a new interest in all things space – So [Jeff] took the opportunity to make the desk into this mind-boggling control panel. 

We saw a similar project recently, but this one seems to take it to the next level. The desk itself is hand-made from MDF sheet and with oak boards making up the structural members. He’s cut out over a dozen individual control panels, added switches, LEDs and potentiometers, and printed the labels on transparencies which give the whole thing a very professional and finished look. An iPad sits in the middle which plays a curated collection of space videos.

As far as we can tell, all the buttons actually do something. He’s using an Arduino with four I/O expanders (MCP23017) to take care of all the inputs and outputs, and a Raspberry Pi to add sound effects to the simulation.

Now all he needs is a spaceship to monitor — which apparently is in the works as well!

[Thanks Nick!]