Michelle Mong Qi Wu, Creative Technologist | New Media Artist                                                                             About    Art Work     Industry Work

Cat Toy Reborn (2026)

Client: Michael Santos
Role: Electronics, Firmware, Fabrication
Tools: ESP32, Arduino(C++), Fusion360 A client gave me a broken cat toy and asked me to reuse its enclosure with new electronics, turning it into a digital clock. I programmed a circuit with a microcontroller, an LED display, and a button to show the time, and designed 3D printed parts to mount all the components.

While designing the parts, I reused all of the toy’s existing screws to mount them. To honor the spirit of upcycling, I used no glue, so nothing is permanent, and I made everything modular so repairs are easy. The microcontroller tells time by connecting to the user’s home wifi, which only needs to be set up on first use. After that, it handles time zones and daylight saving time automatically.




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