Deborah Orrett's 8th Grade computer science class recently crafted their own digital pets from scratch—inspired by the 1990s Japanese toy Tamagotchi—flexing their skills in coding, 3D design, and creative thinking!

Students first tackled the physical component—electrical wiring—by cutting, stripping, and connecting all the wires themselves. Then they connected the wiring to an Arduino (a programmable circuit board), LED screen, and buttons through a breadboard (the construction base used for prototyping electrical circuits).

Turning to coding, students worked in programming language C++ to program their digital pet, working in a simulator to see the game in action. "They developed the software program for the Arduino, designing how their pet looked and an extra fun function (such as sleep, dance, sparkle, etc.)," said Orrett. One student even programmed their pet bee to sting people in order to gain energy!

To finish off the project, students designed unique outside cases in the computer-aided design (CAD) program Tinkercad and brought their ideas to life using 3D printers in our STEAMWork Design Studio.

Below: completed digital pets and the simulation students used to test their project