[Severian]

Man I love this. As a kid my dad had a friend that had some type of old industrial control interface, in unpainted sheet metal, he had wired up that just did blinkenlights. Had a bunch of 7-segment LEDs, light-up push buttons, switches, throws, dials, meters, and a bunch of other stuff. It had that tactile goodness that a touchscreen doesn't.

Basically it did nothing, but man did it inspire my imagination. I remember spending hours playing with it as my parents talked and played cards. This must have been the late 70s as I was 4 or 5 at the time (if that tells you my age).

These kids have it good.

[uscjeremy]

Honestly, this thing inspired my imagination more than I could have imagined. I had so much fun that I ended up building dozens more embedded systems projects, and eventually redirected my career more towards embedded systems, too. Embedded systems really let you interact with them in a tactile way, as you put it, that computer-based software does not. I found it irresistible.

Jon's oldest child -- pictured on the web site as an 8-year-old -- is now a sophomore in college, majoring in engineering. I'd like to think the rocket had some small part in that, too.

[jacquesm]

I think a big factor is that kids see adults do stuff and think that doing stuff and making things is normal. That gets them out of 'if it isn't store bought it isn't real' mode.

[Severian]

I'm sure it did! I'm glad you provided this for them.

[krisoft]

When I was a kid I loved even just watching pictures of complicated interfaces.

That is why I made a tactile "busy box" for my nephew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BGSkwGI6BI

Just a lot of fun buttons "doing nothing" as you say. :D

[robbles]

This is a really nice one! What did you use for the board itself? Is it 3D printed?

[krisoft]

Thank you! Yes, it is 3D printed. The box is made of 3 parts (front face, backplate, battery cover. It is held together with heat-set inserts. The "nuclear sign" is also 3d printed from two parts and then they are snapped/glued together.

Three things I learned from the play-test with the end user (my 1.5 year old nephew):

- The corners and edges are a bit sharpish. If I would do it again I would add more chamfer there. (No actual accidents though, other than that it tore the wrapping paper while in transit :))

- Having a bunch of different buttons was really good. Some were harder for him to actuate, but he kept playing with them for weeks (with interruptions of course), and eventually managed to activate all of them.

- The parents deemed the LEDs too bright and applied some tape to dim them. If I would do it again I would wire one of the many potentiometers to regulate the brightness.