Wi-Fi Plushie

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Add wi-fi capabilities to your favorite furry friend.

From the column DIY: Hack It

by Dylan Field

Other Ideas

Chumby in a book (created by Andrew Stone):

Chumby in a lunchbox (created by Matthew Dalton):

The Original

Dylan originally hacked the Chumby into Winnie the Pooh. Here is his description:

I decided that while my Chumby was pretty cool, it needed to express more individuality. Essentially, every Chumby looked the same ... cute, but still a clone of its brothers and sisters. So with the help of a few members of the Chumby team, I abandoned the bean-bag plush toy packaging and welcomed everyone's favorite bear, Winnie the Pooh.

The first step was to get the Chumby out of its original housing. It being my only Chumby, I was very careful during the entire process. I popped off the LCD touch-screen in front, and disconnected the "Chumbilical," a cord used to connect external devices, and backup power supply. Next, I set the screen aside, and opened up the back, which had a Velcro lining. Inside was a small bag containing the polyester beads that gave the Chumby its plushy feel, which I took out.

I then separated the rest of the wires from the device and took out the black plastic mold which houses the on/off switch and power supply. Also, I cut out the original housing for the screen with a seam ripper, and in the process stabbed myself in the thumb. If you do this project, make sure the seam ripper is always facing away from you ... in other words: just don't be an idiot.

With scissors, I cut the excess area off the housing, making it into a more square-like shape. I held this in front of where I wanted the Chumby to be, and used a Sharpie to carefully trace the outline. (Note: You may want to trace a smaller shape than the one you are using, as that way you'll have more cloth to cover the side of the Chumby with ... not to mention it will look better.) I then repeated this process for the 2 speakers and black plastic mold from the back of the device. Satisfied with the positions, I cut poor Pooh open with the seam ripper and transplanted the devices inside. I stuck the bend sensor in Pooh's leg, but unfortunately that didn't really work too well.

Finally, I took out a little cotton and connected all the wiring inside. With a little hot glue, Pooh's fur completely covered the Chumby's housing and it looked pretty good. The whole thing took me about 40 to 50 minutes, but, as I said, I was very careful the whole time. If I were do it now it would take about 10 minutes.

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