Switch-Adapting a Gyrate Octopus for Accessible Play

This project is focused on adapting the toy octopus to activate and perform it's dancing and music functionalities through the press of an accessible button. This will remove the challenges that the requirement of fine motor skills may place on children.

The toy is designed to dance by spinning around and moving while playing music through the speaker by the press of the built in button on the side of the octopus. The toy will be rewired to replace the built in button with the outer, more accessible Buddy Button.

Materials:

1. Gyrate Octopus
2. Buddy Button, we used 2.5 inch buttons
3. Solder Panel Mount Jack Connector, 3.5mm

Tools:

1. Sewing Kit
2. Soldering Iron/Gun
3. Solder
4. Wire Strippers
5. Drill
6. 5/16 Drill Bit

The toy connects the stuffed octopus to the hard shell on the inside through a zip tie ran inside along the circumference of the octopus, break the zip tie to have access to the inside of the toy. To open the purple hard shell on the inside, open unscrew it and it will open by splitting in half. Upon investigation you will find that there are wires connected to the inner original button. The plan is to rewire this connection to the jack that will connect to the new Buddy Button.

To remove the old connection, cut the wires that are connected to the built-in button. Then you can use wire strippers to clean up the ends since these will be the ones you connect to the jack.

To connect the Buddy Button to the toy we will be using the 3.5 mm jack. To attach the jack to the toy, use a 5.16 drill bit and drill a hole into the purple shell of the toy to allow access to the inside. You can then insert the jack into the toy. Make sure to drill the hole in a location that makes sense with the inside wiring.

Now with the jack ready, you can solder the wires that previously went to the inner button to the jack. Make sure your common and power connections are soldered appropriately. This is a good step to conduct testing on the toy to make sure it works properly with the button before closing it up. The toy should turn on and off with the press of the button.

Since the jack is connected to the inner shell of the toy, you will need to restitch the outer stuffed octopus to allow room for the jack to enter. To do this you can cut a small area of the octopus that aligns to where the jack will be and restitch to make it a better fit. Try to find a similar color thread to the octopus.

Our stitching wasn't very pretty, so find someone to help you sew a ladder/slip stitch to hide the thread and give it a professional finish.

Lastly, you can work on closing up your toy and the finishing touches. Place the stuffed octopus over the inner purple shell, lining up the hole in the octopus with the jack. You will need to reattach the bottom circumference of the octopus to the inner shell. To do this you can loop a new zip tie through the bottom and tighten it on or you can hot glue the animal to the shell.

Now you have an accessible toy that can be activated through a Buddy Button!