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Archive for the ‘Power Wheels’ Category

After searching everywhere for an affordable ride-on fire truck toy for his daughter this past Christmas season YouTuber Jason Altice (AKA CodeMakesItGo) had nearly given up, but luckily enough was able to locate a free Grave Digger Power Wheels that he could modify into one. In its current condition, the vehicle was in bad shape so it had to first be almost completely disassembled, which led to the discovery of a bad switch that was causing the troubles. 

Upon removing each panel and meticulously painting it with coats of primer and bright red paint, Altice moved onto the next step of including a loud siren and some lights for additional realism. He took an Arduino Nano, loaded some sounds in the form of tone melodies, and then ran the outputted signal from the digital pin to an amplifier and onwards to the horn.

The last piece of this fire truck puzzle was figuring out how to integrate the emergency lights and make them flash in a realistic manner. Altice was able to find a string of LEDs that already had an integrated receiver, so he decoded the signal coming from the 433MHz transmitter and set the Arduino to replay it whenever the activation button on the dashboard is pressed. 

The final result of all this work was a really cool, drivable vehicle that Altice’s daughter could use. More details on the project can be found here on Instructables.

The post This dad converted a Power Wheels into a DIY fire truck toy, complete with a siren and lights appeared first on Arduino Blog.

Child-sized wheelchairs can be difficult to come by, and unfortunately aren’t as much fun as something like a ride-on car. The South Eugene Robotics Team, or FRC2521, decided to address both challenges by building a mini Jeep augmented for kids with limited mobility.

Instructions found here detail how to modify the battery-powered toy, including what can be recycled and what extra parts will need to be purchased. In the new configuration, the Jeep’s two rear motors are configured for differential control, with the input regulated by an Arduino Nano and a pair of electronic speed controllers (ESCs). 

In this project, a joystick replaces the original pedal and steering wheel, and it looks like a lot of fun when implemented in the similarly-outfitted firetruck below.



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