[Dominik] built a fun musical toy for his daughter [Anna]. It’s a jukebox that lets her play her favorite tunes using RFID tags to select between them.
The project is simple, yet robust. The enclosure is a wooden craft box that you can pick up for a couple of bucks. Inside there’s an Arduino with a Wave Shield which handles the audio playback. An RFID reader takes input from the set of card-tags he procured. An internal Lithium battery powers the device, with a USB port for charging.
Sure, those guts have some cost involved in them. But there’s no LCD which can be broken, and we thing the boards will hold up well to abuse if mounted correctly. Plus there’s a lot of future potential here. When we saw the cards we thought of those toys which make the animal sounds (“what does the cow say… mooo”). This could be used for that with really young children. Then repurposed into this jukebox as they get a bit older. If you put the guts in a new enclosure it will appear to be a brand-new toy, right?
See a demo of the project in the clip after the break.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38416886 w=470]
This is great!
Oh.. a cow says moo? Uh oh..
But seriously, this is a great little project. If I ever have kids I’m building them one of these.
I’ve been thinking of picking up an Arduino. I haven’t touched electronics in a decade or more (and even then it was a simple kit system) but projects like these inspire me to try it again
You are from Europe where cows says Shazoo!
This could have a whole bunch of uses, spelling, math, etc flash cards, hide and seek games, hiding it under a poker table to cheat at cards, the possibilities are endless!
Very nice project! Too bad that trigger and content are separate. Isn’t there some kind of ranged interface that could transmit MP3 content?
I agree, the cards and the response to the card is different but it could have so many possibilities ! its an amazing idea, and i would myself like to develop the idea on my own and even build one for my niece.
Wave shield? I take it your not infecting your kids hearing with mpee’s, good!
This linking will oh so common in the near future I don’t want to think about it. However it will be hacked too.
tag your cd collection hook this up wot some NICE speakers and you have a proper jukebox.
I would have adored this when I was kid. I love it now too but more for the craftsmanship and thought that has gone into it.
I could see something like this being cost-optimised, and sent to charitable childrens’ organisations. Something that has such a brilliantly simply interface would be easy to manufacture and would be robust enough to survive in most environments (dust, humidity, cold even).
I can imagine it in an African or India classroom or play centre, places like that which gone generally have access to technology based educational toys. It could even be solar powered to reduce the maintenance to near-zero.
Fabulous idea, brilliant implementation. Good for you!
I can’t type today, sorry.
Make a passive RFID device with LV storage for low-bit music that is pulled by stationary terminals and played back. Use queuing.
Just a cool idea..
I would love this. I can imagine the different sounds I could have it produce. It could make some weird electronic music, or run a strange voice over as a sing into my mic. Man…I want to make one of these.