Build your own Storytime Bear

The holidays are coming up!  

I've got a great idea for a fun gift for that favorite preschooler, and you'll learn how to make things talk at the same time!

Let me introduce you to Storytime Bear, the stuffed animal that can sing, tell stories, or say anything you want.




Storytime Bear is powered by the Propeller microcontroller and speaks using pre-recorded .wav files from a microSD card.

Here's what you'll need to create Storytime Bear:

• The "Open Source" Pocket Mini Computer (Or replicate the audio, keyboard, VGA and microSD sections of that project)
• A 4 cell AA battery pack
• A USB cable with "micro" end.
• A Servo cable
• A 40pin male pin header
• A 10K resistor
• A small piece of "perf" board
• A small amplified speaker
• A stuff animal with at least one trigger button.  (Mine has it in the paw)

Propellerpowered.com has a shop full of all things you'll need for this project.  (minus the bear)

Step 1: Storytime Bear

My previously loved Storytime Bear was obtained from a second hand shop, and now lives a second lifetime in this Instructable to teach you how to make things talk using the Propellerpowered Pocket Mini Computer.   I carefully removed his original innards which included two motor with moved his guitar and head as well as a small board with an extremely annoying version of something like Turkey in the Straw".    No wonder he found he way there!

In this build, I focus primarily on the "talking/singing" aspect, but there is no reason why this project couldn't be expanded to include transistor controlled movement using the original motors.  (I'm saving that for another project)

As long as your "Bear" has one push button somewhere, we're good to go!

Comments

[amandaghassaei]

this is a really cute idea! I love how you can personalize it!