LegoDuino: Lego + Arduino for a 9 year old | Hacker News Reader

LegoDuino: Lego + Arduino for a 9 year old

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65 pointsemixam9 comments

> One lesson I learned (after burning my fingers to the metal spring of one of the batteries) is that lithium cells can generate high currents when shorted out. Because the enclosure covers part of the battery holder, it's much harder this way to short out one of the batteries while replacing them.

I always wondered why many parallel AA battery holders have adjacent batteries facing in opposite directions. The little diagram and discussion here made me realize it's not just about shortening the wires on the outside, it's also a safety issue. Even in the revised design that he used, there is still one diagonal battery position that would short out the circuit.

Never discount the battery holder in any electronics project: it's one of the few mechanical parts that you are guaranteed to interact with every week or so. If they are always corroding or losing contact (or burning your fingers), it really takes the joy and polish out of the product.

Does anyone know of any good books/sites to teach basic electronics to kids (or their parents)? Thanks.

I've been through about a hundred books on the subject over the years. They are all pretty crappy to be honest so far. There is a great opening here.

The problem with electronics is that bar the simplest things, it's pretty maths heavy and is very abstract.

About the closest thing to something decent is the student guide for The Art of Electronics as that defers math until necessary. That and the NEETS modules: http://www.phy.davidson.edu/instrumentation/NEETS.htm

http://www.dspguide.com is pretty good if you want some signal processing knowledge. It's written in plain English.

I went through Make: Electronics [0] several months ago. It takes a hands on learning approach and favors experimentation over theory. Any parent could get through it. Give it a shot. :)

[0]: http://www.makershed.com/Make_Electronics_book_by_Charles_Pl...

This looks like a geek-project, but it is actually a dad doing exactly the same as cutting up dinosaur pieces before they need painting, or sanding Hornby rails down for better grip, or reading the book ahead of time in case of long words!

Just with Arduino.

You sir are not a geek, you are just a concerned parent.

Nice one.

I don't really get what you intended to convey with this comment.

This is beautiful.

I wish my 9-year-old had a parent that could pull this off.

littleBits (http://littlebits.cc/) is a great commercial version of this. http://www.ted.com/talks/ayah_bdeir_building_blocks_that_bli...

I wish I had that when I was a kid!

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