Maker Russell Munro created an Optimus Prime cake that actually transforms.
While Jeff Highsmith may have been the unofficial Maker dad of the year in 2014 with his impressive mission control desk, it looks like we just found 2015’s undisputed champion. That’s because Russell Munro recently created the ultimate birthday cake for his six-year-old son: a talking Optimus Prime cake that actually transforms.
According to Munro, the animated cake consists of a 3D-printed skeleton: a chest, thighs, arms and lower legs. The thighs and the chest are the only animatronic pieces, as the lower legs remain in place to support all of the movement. Metal fishing wire is wound up by a stepper motor which pulls the chassis to a standing position. A pair of arms pop out from the chest once the robot is fully upright.
The entire operation is controlled by an Arduino, along with an EasyDriver from SparkFun, a 2A DC motor driver and an MP3 player module. The platform for the cake is made from 8mm MDF.
With the help of his wife, the chocolate mud cake was then baked around the mechanism and ultimately topped off with an amazing icing job. Safe to say, this Maker will probably be receiving countless invites to birthday parties in the very near future. Intrigued? Read all about the build on his log, as well as his latest writeup in MAKE: Magazine.
And now sans the cake…
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