Vibrating Poro From League of Legends : 17 Steps

So in the League of Legends community, the poro, commonly seen walking around the Howling Abyss, has been a huge hit and everyone loves its cuteness, it dances around all happily-like when you feed it a poro-snax. I decided I wanted to make one in a plush form with the functionality that it vibrates when you place a poro-snax close to its mouth.

I'm a novice when it comes to sewing and knowing how to use electronics but I figured it would be a good challenge and a good learning experience and it was!

You're welcome to see my different iterations and attempts as I tried to create this poro at: http://buildinprogress.media.mit.edu/projects/1261...

This process was not an easy one as I had only just learned how to sew during this project so there were a lot of mistakes, I'll try to highlight only what worked in this instructable, if you wish to see my process and journey through this project, I encourage you to check out that link above.

Step 1: Researching

I plan on making this by sewing cloth together and putting stuffing in it to make it into a plush. The only thing problem is that I don't know how to sew. So I'll have to learn how to sew through the process of this project.

To handle the electronics of this project, I plan to use an Arduino Lilypad. This has most of the functionality of a regular Arduino with the added factor that it can be sewn on to fabrics and is washable. To have the vibration I plan to implement a vibe board, a small board that will vibrate when given voltage. To have the poro know when the snax is near it's mouth I'll be using a Hall Effect sensor. This is a sensor that detects magnetic fields. It gives off a positive voltage when a magnet facing the correct direction is placed near it. I'm planning on placing a strong enough magnet inside of the poro-snax that will be able to activate the Hall effect sensor through all the stuffing and fabric. For the design of the poro, I'll mostly be using this website: http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showth...

This is a video that highlights what poro is and does.

For materials I've decided to use:

-an old shirt

-black, white, brown and an another large piece of felt

-an Arduino Lilypad

-Lilypad motors

-a hall effect sensor

-a resistor

-a rechargeable lithium battery

-clear nail polish (to make the bonds of the thread strong)

-stuffing

-magnets

Step 2: Tracing the Body

I zoomed in on the image of the poro on a screen.

I then simply taped a piece of paper onto it and traced, this makes a stencil, for the body, that I can then trace onto the fabric to cut out later. I also made a stencil for the heart on the bottom of the poro (not shown).

The main basic theory that will be used for the sewing is similar to how clothes are made. Most articles of clothing have a seam in between the parts of fabric, to help if the fabric starts to stretch. This is usually on the inside of the piece of clothing as it juts out. We'll be using this theory of having extra fabric of where we'll be sewing and then flipping the fabric inside out so that the seam is on the inside.

Step 3: Tracing the Feet and Horns

I then traced the outline of the feet and horns so that I would have stencils for them as well.

Step 4: Creating the Body

So the body is pretty interesting in that it requires 2 body sections made of blue (the main body sections) and one for the white heart on the bottom of the body. These parts all need to come together into a single piece.

First, I cut out the shapes using the stencils as a guide, I cut a little bit larger than the stencil to allow for extra space in case the body gets pulled around and makes a hole, this will allow for the body to still be intact even with a bit of stretching.

Then, I carefully sewed the white heart onto the half of the blue body and then then to the other half so that there would be a seam created that could be hidden on the inside of the poro. I then finished it off by sewing the blue parts together. I left a hole around the poro’s back in order to leave room for to make a hole. This hole is used to help you sew the horns and feet as well as creating a space for the electronics, that will be placed inside the poro to be accessible.

Step 5: Creating the Feet

I then sewed the feet. I sewed the black portion of the foot onto the blue parts before I sewed the 2 parts together (all around) to form the foot. Unlike the body, I simply sewed the white sections, the “foot-pads” directly onto the foot. I figured it didn't matter as much with the feet as it would with the body.

I also cut a line near the middle back of the foot . This is the hole that will be used to connect the body to the foot. This also allows you to flip the foot inside-out so that the good side of the can be seen.

Step 6: Creating the Horns and Eyes

I then sewed the horns much like the way I did with the feet, except that I left an opening on the side that I would attach the horns to the body. For the eyes, I simply sewed the white felt directly onto the black felt. The eyes didn’t require any special stencil and was just cut out by eye balling (ha no pun intended) the shape.

Step 7: Making the Electronics

As I said before int he introduction, I wanted to have this powered by an Arduino Lilypad.

This section took a few iterations but I ended up making an inner sheet that would have all the electronic parts. I started off sewing down the lily pad on pins that weren't needed in the code.

I then sewed a rectangular piece of felt along 3 sides. This to make a battery holder so that you can place the battery somewhere contained when it is in the poro.

I then sewed the motors and Hall Effect Sensor onto the piece of felt. I had marked, on a piece of paper that was used as a blueprint, where I would need to have the thread cross and have one thread go on top while the other went underneath so that they don't touch but can still complete the circuit.

Once I finished that i trimmed the sheet down so that it was a bit more manageable.

Step 8: Making the Mouth

I traced out a stencil for the mouth, laid it on top of 2 layers of a pink cloth and then sewed all of it together except for the straight side. This is so that it can be stuffed with the Hall Effect sensor as well as stuffing.

I also made the little ruffles that are seen above/on the poro's tongue. This was a struggle at first since the little bumps are so small, but I then asked for some advice from a co-worker who suggest to make little snips, on the inner part, near where the bumps dips in. This is so that the fabric wouldn't have to pull so much on a single point is allowed to fan out a bit.

Step 9: Sewing the Feet Onto the Body

I then attached the feet onto the body using the holes that I cut into the feet and one that I cut into the body.

I orientated them as straight as possible and placed them a good bit away from the center line of the poro so that it would be able to stand up.

Step 10: Sewing on the Horns and Eyes

I then sewed horns onto the body. I cut some holes around where I thought the horns should go and attached them the way I did with the feet.

For the eyes I just sewed directly onto the area that I thought the eyes belonged.

Step 11: Attaching the Mouth to the Electronics

I then went to sew the mouth onto the electronic section. This is so that I could get the hall effect sensor inside of the tongue as well as the ruffles where they should be. This also allows the electronics part to be inside of the poro.

I stuffed the tongue with a bit of stuffing and the ruffle as well. I also had the suggestion of putting a line on the tongue to make it more life-like so I implemented that as well.

Though I don't have a picture of it, I also sewed the ruffle onto the electronic sheet so that they are all connected as one piece.

Step 12: Attaching the Mouth to the Body

I cut a hole on the body of the poro in between the eyes and the front feet. I then carefully sewed the part of the electronics sheet onto hole similarly like the horns, sewing it onto a bit of the cut part.

I then stuffed the electronics into the body of the poro.

It came out a bit derpy but that's fine!

Step 13: Stuffing the Poro

I took some stuffing and stuffed the poro's feet, horns, and rest of its body with stuffing.

It looks a lot more realistic in my opinion!

Step 14: Adding Velcro Around the Edge of the Hole

I sewed some Velcro directly around the edge of the hole. This is so that I would still be able to have an opening to get to the electronics and the battery if I ever needed to swap anything out.

Step 15: Finishing Touches + Rearranging+ Securing the Motors

For the most

part the poro is complete! It just requires a bit of fine tuning to make sure the circuit works fine.

Sometimes the thread will touch and make it so that circuit doesn’t turn on one or more of the motors. To prevent this from happening I sewed thread that went through the “skin” of the poro as well as electronics sheet in order to have it stick to the skin more.

Unfortunately, the lilypad vibe motors only vibrate enough for someone, who’s touching it, to feel it and can’t be see on camera as easily, so you’ll have to trust me in that it worked!

Step 16: Making the Poro Snax

In League of Legends, poros ONLY eat poro snax. I began by estimating how large the snax should be and then designed it so that there would be a top and bottom circle with a single strip that goes around the sides. I then sewed magnets on the strip (orientated so that the outside would activate the circuit) I then sewed the top on to the strip and then the bottom piece to the strip, after stuffing it.