I’m playing with junk.
This is really fun. All you need is an old modem, two broken cellphones, old mouse (the kind with a ball inside) and a button battery and you can make a light-chasing “Herbie” robot. Really!
- On the modem (or modem PCI card) find a chip that is called
LM386-something. This is the amplifier that we will need. - Disassemble the cellphones and find the vibro-motors in them. They look like a small metal cylinder (possibly coated with plastic or rubber) with a small weight on the end. Best get two identical ones.
- Break open the mouse and find the infrared light emitters – they should be sitting just next to the funny spoked wheels. They will serve as photodiodes.
- You can get a CMOS battery from an old mainboard, or just take one from your watch.
That’s presumably all (I’m still playing with that stuff, looking for a good battery).
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