Backyard Rocket Ship Treehouse Walkthrough

A walkthrough of the RULAV, the Ravenna Ultra-Low-Altitude Vehicle -- a rocketship treehouse nestled in the backyard of a Seattle neighborhood. Created by Jon Howell and Jeremy Elson.

We built it over the course of about 18 months. The structure was welded from steel bar and riveted aluminum sheets. The electronics are all custom-fabricated printed circuit boards based around the Atmega328 microcontroller and a small operating system we wrote from scratch. There are nearly 800 LEDs in the rocket, mostly 7-segment numeric displays, each individually controllable by the processor. The "thrusters" are engine cleaning wands powered by compressed air and aerated with water from a reservoir mounted underneath the floor. Each is controlled by an electrically actuated solenoid air valve under control of the main processor, when commanded by the pilot's joystick. Electricity, water, and compressed air come in from the house via an underground trench. Even Grandma Jan got in on the act: she made the astronaut's spacesuit. The fantastic mission logo and patch were designed by Noa Dvoskin.

Information, schematics, and a build log are at our web site: http://rocket.jonh.net

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• rocket
• rocketship
• treehouse
• tree
• house
• diy
• atmega
• arduino
• widescreen

[RumpleForeSkin1972]

greatest dad EVER!

[the1intellect]

Flashlight on thrusters is cool.. demands NIGHT SHOT!! Let's see this thing light up :-)

[dld2517]

Let's get a long close up of all those AWESOME BUTTONS!!!!!

[MrStrangeham]

This is beautiful... When I was 5 my Mom and Dad made me a shuttle out of an old refrigerator box It was my favorite toy till I was 10. this brings back so many memories. Thank you

[ToyKingWonder]

Excellent, just excellent!

I was inspired years ago with my first son when I started researching the Ralston Rocket and various space ship give-a-ways in the 50s and 60s. My creation was a wood-constructed space ship with various controls (although not computerized as yours is) but is relatively monstrous in size!

Awesome that you built that and your kid appreciates it!

[bigben1986]

my rocket ship back in the day was under my sheets with a fake keyboard as the controls. this is awesome.

[Timmy2384]

I bet you his father wears sandals with socks, drives a Prius, and makes over $100,000 a year.

Awesome tree house, when I was a kid we just used more imagination.

[pcbheaven]

go daddy go!!! I will feature it in my site for today!

[packthepit]

When I was a kid back in the 60s my Dad built me a tree house in the backyard. It was actually IN the tree where a tree house is supposed to be, and it was made out of 2 x 4's and 1 x 6's. I went EVERYWHERE in that tree house that my Dad made out of WOOD. The Moon...........Mars.........Ve­nus.......Jupiter.......Heck, I even crashed my tree house into the Sun (and DIED) because I lost navigational control. 9 yrs old is WAY too young to die! And all it took was IMAGINATION. Love you Dad!

[ryantheleach]

@sdflksdfkfh lame for what you troll?

lame for a rollercoaster or lame for a treehouse...

remember this is in a kids backyard, built by his dad, young kids will beg thier parents to go on those rides you see in shopping centres that just mvoe them the tiniest bit.

Get your perspective straight.

[chrohm]

a hydraulic hatch would've been a nice touch

[xkyrulzx]

i would so smoke a bowl in there and chill :D