§ 01 — Brief
At an Openlab.Taipei maker meetup we found a PLEO — the 2007 US emotional robotic dinosaur. Age had killed the onboard NiMH pack; it would power on for a few seconds and die.
Hongqi suggested in discussion: don’t open it up — hang an external power pack on it. Once “external” was the constraint, the form followed: if it has to sit on the back, make it a narrative object. We chose a rocket.
§ 02 — System
Three subsystems in one PET bottle:
- Power: two RC-car NiMH packs, one per side of the bottle — balance and easy one-side swap
- Light: Arduino-driven LED strips, three rhythms (top, side, base). Base LEDs breathe like exhaust
- Sound: TF-card MP3 module and a small speaker; buttons fire launch / cruise / explosion cues
§ 03 — Fabrication
PET bottle for the rocket body (light, translucent, easy to paint). 3D-printed base ring and LED ring doubling as the battery clamp. Primer → spray → local hand detailing, iterated.
§ 04 — Outcome
Shown at Makerfaire Taipei 2016 — the rocket backpack took a Blue Ribbon. PLEO walked again with exhaust glowing behind it; on the same booth the third-generation W—002 Eye Apparatus tracked visitors from its head. My second Makerfaire (first was 2014 with an Eye prototype). The “dinosaur + rocket + watching eye” booth was stronger than any piece alone.
