Circuit Bending and "Hacking a Toy"

Self-explanatory experiments in bypassing the original logic of an electronic-based toy to implement our own.

Original Toy

When the power supply circuit was closed, the toy could be activated by shaking it, due to a small ball switch (orange wires) energizing the logic board to the "awake" state. The toy would emit sound from a speaker (yellow wires) and drive the rear wheel axle motor (red wires). Also included were a pressure switch attached to the front axle (purple wires), indicating that the toy was placed on the ground, and a bar switch 

(blue wires), which was included but did not appear to be attached to any mechanical interface--most likely, it  was a leftover process from another feature that the manufacturer had intended.

Logic-board exposed.

Interestingly, the rear axle of the toy is not a single-shaft direct-drive gearset. It has an "open" differential, leading to greater possibilities for hacking by locking up one wheel to make the toy turn while the motor is being driven forward or backward.