To help the design team decide, we posted their top three picks on Facebook and asked our community to vote for their favorite by giving it a “Like.” Since the Unihorn creation, everyone at littleBits has been on a fantasy kick. Although the bumper bots and genie bottle have fantastical elements, we were thrilled that the automaton dragon won the Facebook vote.

Inspired by the dragons found in Harry Potter (an office favorite), we decided to give our dragon some wings — sound activated wings. Upon hearing a loud clap of thunder, the flight motion is triggered so the dragon can take off into the night. Make your own Dragon Hack by following these instructions.

Crafty

If you like to DIY and enjoy creating projects with found materials, consider the following:

1. Make Some Noise

Our output Bits make a variety of sounds and the pulse Bit is an excellent way to modify those sounds. The combination of sound Bits with everyday household items can create different pitches and rhythms.

Placing the vibration motor Bit inside of hollow plastic objects, like plastic eggs, creates an interesting noise that we enhanced by using pulse Bits. We placed a pulse before each motor so that we could carefully control the rate at which the motors activated.

Want to create something more elaborate? Here is some inspiration from our friends at Frog Design. They created an incredible Build-It Noise Band by using the method we mentioned above, and household items.

2. Pull a Prank!

Sometimes the best projects only require a cleverly placed circuit. For April Fool’s Day, we pranked a co-worker by setting up a set of vibration motors that made everything on his desk vibrate. The pulse Bit allowed us to control the frequency of the vibrating motors, which maximized the irritation factor.

 Design 

If you frequent the art supply store and don’t mind spending a few dollars on supplies, follow these tips:

3.  Get Flashy

For Maker Faire San Francisco we made projects using our limited edition San Francisco bundle, which includes a variety of bright Bits and the pulse. Using these Bits, you can make a model bridge, necklace, analog gif box, glowing Unicorn horn — and more!

Combining the pulse with an inverter Bit creates alternating flashing lights, which is how we created our analog GIF box and the lights in the Bay Bridge model.

Going to a rave? Combining the pulse Bit and lightwire will help you stand out.

Ride safely with the Unihorn Bike Helmet! Wrap the lightwire around the horn and add a pulse to create a flashing light, which makes you more visible (and awesome) when riding at night.

4. Illuminate Your Memories

This one is a throwback. We recreated our very own Ultraman (Taro)! The light in the center of his chest flashes on and off because of the pulse. This indicates how much power he has left to defeat the evil dragon!

Expert

Are you handy with tools? Try using the Servo Bit (coming soon!) with the pulse

5. Servo + Pulse

For this demo we went a little outside the box. Instead of focusing on how the pulse can modify other Bits, we found a way to have other Bits modify the pulse. Remix!

We attached the mini-screwdriver to our servo Bit (coming soon!), and then mounted the servo Bit above the pulse. As the servo motor rotates back and forth, it changes the rate of the pulse and the rate at which the pulse modifies the Bits that follow it.

-Visit Humphry Slocombe for a bowl of Secret Breakfast (an office favorite)
-Score PTR in Dolores Park
-Take a ride in a cable car
-Find a costume that complements our Unihorn helmet for Bay to Breakers
-Consume a burrito (or two) in the Mission
-Have a drink at Smuggler’s Cove
-See The Bay Lights in person

Learning and Playing with Little Bits in Seoul, South Korea. from Taeyoon Choi on Vimeo.

Thursday, May 16th: Exploratorium Demo

Tara, our Education Account Manager will be at The Exploratorium from 12pm-3pm. The Exploratorium is one of Team littleBits’ favorite institutions and we’re thrilled to be featured alongside the science and tinkering exhibits! Come by on Thursday to learn more about the Bits and how to make your own projects.

May 18th-May 19th: Maker Faire Bay Area

This weekend, we’ll be joining the 900+ maker exhibits at “The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth.” If you’re attending the Faire, visit booth #455 to meet the littleBits team, view our San Francisco projects  and pick-up one of the limited edition San Francisco Bundles. We’ll also have some top-secret Bits on display!

Monday, May 20th: Workshop at TechShop San Jose

Our final Bay Area event will be at TechShop San Jose from 3:30-5:30 next Monday. Participants will learn the basics of prototyping and inventing with littleBits. Imagine a paint brush that only paints when a sound is made,  or an alarm that’s triggered when the lights turn on — and more! The cost of attending the workshop is $10, which covers all materials. For those interested in taking Bits home, our starter and extended kits will be available for purchase.

To view our Bay Area adventure chronicles, visit our San Francisco page!

Bay Bridge Lights

This electroluminescent diorama was created to pay tribute to Leo Villareal’s Bay Lights sculpture, one of our favorite installations.

Unihorn Bike Helmet

The Unihorn’s helmet and light wire make it a very fashionable and safe accessory. We recommend making one of your own for Bay to Breakers!

Drum and Bass Bling

This DIY statement piece will make you the center of attention. All that’s needed to create this glowing necklace is cardboard, duct tape and Bits!

Analog GIF Box

We made stencils of some of our favorite San Francisco icons using an x-acto knife. Then, we brought these images to life using a light box powered by a bright LED, pulse and inverter Bit. What stencil would you make?

Light Interactions

1. Make a Flashing ‘Neon’ Sign

Combining the inverter and pulse Bits make interactions happen back to back and play off of one another. To make a flashing neon sign, we used 1 inverter, 1 pulse, and 2 light wires. When powered up, the 2 light wires flash opposite of one another.

Circuit: power+pulse+light wire+inverter+lightwire

2. Animate It!  

We positioned 2 bargraphs opposite of one another with an inverter in between on a piece of cardboard bent at a 90 degree angle. Then, we cut a simple shape out of cardboard and placed it in front. Finally we placed a slightly curved sheet of computer paper in front of the cardboard cutout to make this animated gif.

Circuit: power+pulse+bargraph+wire+inverter+bargraph

Sound Interactions

3. Get Rhythmic 

When connected with multiple pulse Bits, the inverter can help you to create interesting rhythms with our sound making Bits (buzzer and vibration motor).

To make this soundscape, we used 1 inverter, 2 pulse Bits and 2 buzzers. We set the first pulse to the slowest setting and placed it after the inverter. We set the second pulse to a faster setting and placed it after the inverter. The timing of the first pulse allows for short fast buzzes from the second pulse to happen in between.

Use a combination of buzzers and vibration motors (with bells and other sound making material) for a super sonic sound experience.

Circuit: power+pulse+buzzer+inverter+pulse+buzzer

Motion Interactions

4. Design a Conversation

This is a simple way to play with the inverter and motion. We used an inverter, a pulse, and 2 vibration motors with attched styrofoam balls to create this “conversation”. Because the vibration motors pulse is opposition to one another, the styrofoam balls take turns talking.

Circuit: power+pulse+vibration motor+inverter+wire+vibration motor

5. Make Spinning Geometries

Create stunning visuals using the inverter, 2 pulse Bits, and 2 dc motor Bits. Similar to the prior projects, we set different rhythms to the pulse Bits so that our spinning cardboard disks rotate at different speeds, opposite of one another.

Circuit: power+pulse+dc motor+inverter+pulse+dc motor

6. Craft a Steering Mechanism

This little cart spins in one direction until the inverter is activated by the sound trigger. The inverter then sends a message to the previously spinning wheel to stop and for the other one to start. Once the sound turns off, the trigger is released, and the cart will reverse back to its other direction. Time to start driving!

Circuit: power+sound trigger+dc motor+inverter+wire+dc motor

Double Function

7. Use it Around the House

The inverter is great because you can do 2 things with one switch/sensor. You can turn something on while simultaneously turning something else off. We set up a circuit that turns the lights off when the sun comes up while simultaneously turning the fan on. When the sun goes down, the fan goes off, and light turns on. This makes sense for summertime, when the temperature cools down in the evenings.

Circuit: power+light trigger+bright led+inverter+fan

8. Toaster Oven Style

When you turn on your toaster oven, typically a light goes on to signify that it is toasting. When the time is up, the light goes off and sound notifies you that your toast is ready. You can use the inverter to create such a situation. We used the inverter with a time out and a pulse to simulate what happens when you make toast. We set the desired time for toasting using the time out. The inverter is what we would use to make the buzzer start when the light goes off. Toast is done!

Circuit: power+button+timeout+bargraph+inverter+pulse+buzzer

“Its always fun to discover new companies who break into the market with superb new products and that what littleBits has done in a big way. These two electronic kits give kids the building blocks to not only learn about electricity and circuits and the like, but also how to think creatively about what can be made when certain electronic elements are combined and/or connected.” 

We were also given an Honoree Cool Tool award by EdTech Digest, which recognizes them as “new, emerging and established technology solutions for education.” Our Bit kits will receive additional coverage in Toy Insider’s Spring and Summer guide!