A fully-animated, Arduino-powered launchpad for the LEGO Saturn V model rocket
— December 16th, 2020
Approximately 18 months ago, Mark Howe embarked on a journey to build an animatronic launchpad and gantry for a LEGO Saturn V model rocket. After approximately 1,000 hours of CAD work, hundreds of hours of 3D printing, and a major redesign, he’s created a truly impressive setup that mimics the real thing.
Howe’s rocket and structure stand several feet tall, with a crane, sway bar, crew walkway, gantry arms, and service arms that move out of the way for liftoff using servos. Everything is controlled by Arduino Uno, along with an MP3 shield to play the Apollo 11 countdown audio.
With liftoff properly counted down and the supporting apparatuses out of the way, the rocket rises via a trio of stepper motor-driven linear actuators, with a fiery plume of NeoPixels underneath.
