Jen and Emma | Knolled Object | Crayola Light Toy

We spent $4 at Value Village on a Crayola Light Up Toy. It was broken, but we found out that it functions with a stylus and the light up canvas that had a interactive animation. Simply, there is a motor that runs a light strip and a stylus sensor strip at the same time. We took it apart with screwdrivers and some elbow grease, finding that it was composed of over 2 dozen pieces.

It was interesting figuring out how to piece together how the toy worked. With the help of Dominic, we figured out which sensors triggered the light patterns and how the inputs for the interactivity worked. There were two connected hardware strips with tiny LEDs on one side and on the other side there were sensors that would take input from the stylus. There was a light sensor perpendicular to the input strip that timed the animations, and from there, the motor gets triggered. There was also a safety feature that we dissected.

Fun!