Tuesday 2 December 2008

Can it be done ?

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Well, there are many conversations that start off down the pub about stupid gadgets and devices, and here is the story of one of them that made it into reality. So we are all sitting down the pub after work and we are all passing around the latest gadgets that people had bought, there was the inevitable i-Phone and i-touch and i-this and i-that. Everyone got to have a play and as we were browsing away on the i-phones net connection. I happen to mention that if there was a standard USB port on these sort of devices, you could attach all sorts of rubbish for example USB Missile launchers, toothbrushes, lamps, lights and all the other wacky USB stuff that seems to have spawned itself since the invention of the little plug and play port on the side of every computer. After a few more beers had been drunk the conversation rapidly degenerated into what great devices out there that should be USB-enabled, for example, the USB toaster (for handy snacks at work), the USB micowave, kettle etc.... until one of our work colleagues (who had obviously had too much christmas cheer) blurted out "how about a USB Rampant Rabbit". Well, half the people round the table fell about laughing, the other half had no idea what she was talking about (mostly the male workers). After 10mins of explaining what the Rampant Rabbit(TM) was, and what it did, everyone was back on the same level. Now the innovative juices really started flowing, and people were throwing in all sorts of ideas of how it might work and what you could use it for. We got a good hour of humour out of the idea and we all went home laughing.

The idea was then forgotton, until two days later, when I passed the said colleague in the lobby, the conversation went along the line of
"You made it yet ?" ...
"made what ?"...
"that USB thing we were laughing at down the pub"...
"errr nope"
And thats what started me thinking, could it be done ?, how would you do it ?, is it indeed possible. So I embark on the quest... to make the first home made prototype USB controlled internet enabled Rampant Rabbit(TM).

My line of work is IT prototypes and investigations, so this should not be too impossible, the 1st step would be to order up one of these devices, pull it apart and see just what would be involved in converting it to be USB-enabled. So after a few hours perusing a well known online shop I came up with the model I was going to have a go at converting. I did not want anything too complex for the first attempt, so I picked a basic model with two sets of controls. There seems to be a control switch to operate the main motor part, and there looked like there was a second control to operate the secondary motor. (all this was pretty tricky to work out from the picture on the website and they don't give any detailed PDF specs on the workings of these devices.. how unusual ??)
So I pays my money and click in my order for one of said devices.
And sit back and wait for it to turn up.....

1 comment:

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