Star Trek 'Communicator' With Circuit Playground Express

Hello everyone! This is an amateur tutorial for how I made a little Star Trek 'Communicator' which plays sound files from the Next Generation. Hopefully it will be helpful to you!

1. Adafruit Circuit Playground Express

2. Computer (can be a laptop, desktop, Mac, Windows...any system and type is good)

3. Felt or fabric in a desired color; I chose blue because I thought it would resemble a night sky and looked Starfleet-esque, but you can choose any color.

4. Cardboard or other hard material for Starfleet insignia

5. Cable to connect Circuit Playground Express to computer; may require an adapter depending on your computer model

6. Battery pack specific to Circuit Playground Express, as well as batteries for it

7. Sewing machine or needle and thin thread, depending on your preference for sewing by hand or machine sewing

8. Embroidery thread in any color for optional decorating; I chose white to make stars

In order to download Circuit Python for use on your Circuit Playground Express, you will need to download two things. Go to this link and follow the steps to install Circuit Python into your CPX, and also download Code with Mu in order to write your code. Once you have installed and set up all of these things, make sure your CPX appears on your Desktop as CIRCUITPY. Then, open Mu Editor and make sure that it detects your CPX, which you should have connected by way of a cable to your computer.

Now, you are going to want to prepare your sound files for your communicator. I did this by finding my sounds on Youtube and converting them into mp3 files using this converter. However, you can also record your sounds on Quicktime or Garageband and export them.

FIRST METHOD: The first method requires you to move the mp3 files you downloaded into Garageband, from where you will export them as AIFF files and then put those into this WAV converter and download them.

SECOND METHOD: If you are using the second method, you will want to export the files as AIFF files from Garageband. Next, you will want to upload them into this WAV converter and download the files.

Put all of your files into your CIRCUITPY file. I ended up with four files, although due to my poor coding skills only two of them worked in the end. It was quite difficult to make these files small enough to fit into the CPX, which has very low storage space, so ensure your files are small and try putting them in one at a time rather than making them all and then being frustrated by them not working.

Now, begin coding. I am not great at coding and so I decided to slightly modify someone else's code. I used this "Build a Talking Baby Groot" code by John Gallaugher, linked here, to make my code. This was a really useful article to me and I commend Mr. Gallaugher for his conciseness and the efficiency of his code.

All I essentially had to do in order to make it work was to modify the names of the files in the code to what I had named my files in the CIRCUITPY file. I named my files Star_trek_1, Star_trek_2, Star_trek_3, and Star_trek_4. I would highly recommend choosing names like that for simplicity's sake.

The above image was how my code ended up.

Now, it is time for the presentation/packaging of the CPX. I made a very simple little baggie out of felt. I cut two rectangular pieces of felt, sewed around 3 edges with my sewing machine, and then flipped this inside out to hide the seams. I then sewed on a flap which could be tucked inside of the baggie to cover its contents, and finally sewed on a strap. I then cut out a communicator shape out of cardboard, first cutting out the oval shape backing it, and then the iconic insignia itself. Finally, I used white embroidery thread to sew a few little white dots and longer stars for decoration. You may decorate your baggie however you want, or you don't need to make a baggie at all and can choose a different method of presentation...

Your final step is to assemble all of these elements together. You have a Circuit Playground Express which plays sound files on the touching of AI or the reset button, depending on which sound you want, you have a battery pack, and you have a baggie. Organize your items inside the baggie so that they all fit nicely and so that you have easy access to the various buttons. Now, test out your communicator - I hope it works!