Beyond lightsabers and famous script snippets, nothing is quite as iconic in the Star Wars universe as the monstrous AT-AT walkers. The assault vehicles that made their appearance first in the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back have inspired countless real-life creations, including a detailed model from toy company Kenner in 1981. The only problem: it doesn’t actually walk.
This engineer brought an old Star Wars AT-AT walker to life
With an Arduino Uno and an Xbox controller
With an Arduino Uno and an Xbox controller
is a Senior Producer on Decoder. Previously, he reported on the technology and gaming industries for more than a decade.
So software engineer and tinkerer Dave Stein wired one up using an Arduino Uno microcontroller with a set of servos driven by a Adafruit servo shield. He programmed the whole thing to operate via an Xbox 360 controller. Stein says he plans on mounting a camera to the toy’s head and figuring out how best to get the AT-AT cannons to move independently. Even better, he also plans on creating tutorial videos so AT-AT fans can do the same. Check out Stein’s AT-AT Project website here.
Stein is calling his work the AT-AT project
The vintage model can be found on Ebay for around $150 to $300, and the components to help it come to life cost a few hundred bucks themselves. Of course, you could buy a remote controlled AT-AT from Toys R Us for $100, but no modern toy can trump the detail in Kenner’s classic version.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
