CURSED SQUISHY FLASHLIGHT

I want to work with soft labs and am also taking a soft robotics course, so I figured I would try and get comfortable in the space by making a Floppy Flashlight. A hopefully not-obscene floppy flashlight. I’m not against that but it is the first project, we’ll ease into it.

Beginning with my inspiration, check it out.
These awesome, anxiety reducing toys were all over my childhood.

You’ll notice in my first sketch that I was interested in an FSR component for computing but I forgot that that would require programming which I am simply not interested in doing if I can avoid it. At first I thought I would try a 3xAA battery method with a holder but learned that that was going to get a little complicated to do makeshift mode. I did try and I did fail to wrap 3 batteries with masking tape and wire it from there, I unforunately was not in the groove of documenting at that time. I eventually went with this super simple and clean method of powering an LED.

Next comes failure. And Compromise.

I wanted to create a housing for my torch to incorporate some of the powertools. And while I did get some good practice with handsaws, the band saw, and drills, I was wholly unsuccessful at creating my wooden housing. The wood I used was found outside, so either my hopes were too high for the size of the wood or it simply was too weathered to not break. I successfully cut my wood into little bitesize housing blocks that I then planned to hollow out. And then I realized I had no idea how to go about that. So I tried circular bits, spade bits, and just straight up normal drill bit. All of my housings were destroyed.

In the end, I conceded that my concept did not need wood and I got the practice I had sought out even though not the results. So I got to sewing.

And here it is!!

Horrific.

Given more time and if the junk shelf was perfect, I would go more the route of stuffed dolls with music boxes or other interactivity within them that use plastic casings for their circuitry components. Would like to know methods for carving out the inside of wood chunks but now that I think about it, I probably wouldn’t do something like this with wood, more likely plastic.