Here is what my finished dancing baby Groot looks like! Now lets take a look at how we got here.

Also worth noting, Groot was hand knit by Lauren Mocilac, she does fabulous work and she also takes requests!

Step 1: The Original

This was the original toy I got. I couldn't find the original "movin' and groovin'" toy to take apart. This one unfortunately was much more difficult to work with. It had a different song already programmed, and it was super flimsy. But it was a start.

Step 2: The Guts

This was what the guts of the original looked like. Basic of basic. I didn't know what I was getting into yet. I purchased this several months ago with these intentions, but procrastinated like crazy.

Step 3: More Guts

Here is the inside of the heart of Groot. It was a terribly crappy board with mostly hot-glued pieces. It did have a decent speak which I salvaged, but besides the motor and the speaker, that's all.

Step 4: Time to Assemble!

I had a hard time assembling all the pieces since I really didn't know what I'd need. I originally wanted a motion sensor, but it turned out to be so sensitive, I couldn't stand it, so I switched it out for a push button. I also used a Spark Core for some internet connectivity. I also originally planned to use the battery pack, but decided that plugging it in would be easier.

I also got the sound board from here. Product worked great, and I was very sick of that Jackson 5 song by the end of this.

Step 5: Starting to Wire It All Together.

This was tough since it was my first time soldering anything. So there was a lot of mess-ups, but with some help, It started coming together.

Started to solder onto an awesome protoboard from this guy!

Step 6: Much Cleaner Looking!

Nice looking, clean cables.

Step 7: Code Stuff!

Syncing up the motor and the music proved to be most difficult, but it turned out to be great. Here is a gist of my code for the little guy.

https://gist.github.com/kmmonk/b9dc12efeb43fde9d04...

Step 8: Watch Him Dance!

IMG_3961.MOV
Download

Step 9: THANK YOU!

I want to have a whole page to thank the most awesome David Middlecamp. He worked extremely hard on this with me, more than me in most parts. His knowledge of this stuff was fantastic and I very much enjoyed the time working on this together in the basement, watching Star Trek TNG. If it wasn't for him, this project would not have been possible.