[galewind]

We used an arduino board and IFI electronics system to create a "wood chopping machine" for our High School's rendition of Beauty and the Beast two years ago. We slapped a breadboard onto it to make the circuitry for the PWMS more manageable, and it worked like a charm! It ran two motors with the standard old FRC electronics set-up, powered by an arcade button and a large limit switch. It involved timer code to power a window motor to oscillate a plastic axe which chopped a pre-split chunk of wood, and it used a van door motor to turn two giant foam gears and an old anemometer to look "gadgety".

Programming it was a piece of cake! They're very fun to work with.