An odd little box

posted May 23rd 2011 1:08pm by Mike Szczys
filed under: misc hacks

Here’s an odd little box that might get those creative juices flowing for the upcoming Halloween season. [Jeremy's] creepy glowing box has a pair of ping-pong ball eyes which diffuse the red light from a pair of LEDs. Both the lid and they eyes move, and the whole thing is set up for wireless control.

The majority of the parts came from a toy RC helicopter that [Jeremy] had sitting in his junk bin. After close inspection he found that the electronics included to motor drivers for the two rotors, as well as two servo motors which worked to steer the aircraft. One of those servos has been repurposed to aim the gaze of they eyes left and right, the other servo is used to lift and close the lid of the box. This leaves the two motor controllers, one of which switches the LEDs on and off. The other doesn’t really have a purpose yet. He tried adding one wheel to the box, but turning that on just makes the whole thing crash to the floor. Check out what he’s done so far in the clip after the fold.

Comments [11]

tagged: Halloween props, helicopter, ping pong, radio controlled, rc

11 Responses to An odd little box

Foxdie says:

May 23, 2011 at 1:13 pm

The last bit of the vid made me laugh.. “I’m gonna get you!”

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brad says:

May 23, 2011 at 1:42 pm

to…two…. same thing, right?

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frobisher says:

May 23, 2011 at 1:48 pm

I like the part where it runs off the table.

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andar_b says:

May 23, 2011 at 2:01 pm

I’d set it up with an arm and a sign saying trick or treat, much like the little coin-eater from Radio Shack my dad used to have labeled “Vacation Fund”.

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Max says:

May 24, 2011 at 12:24 am

Really nice. :) Three things I can think of:

- I think it would benefit from a dark piece of cloth or something surrounding the eyes – so when the lid opens, you see a “something with glowing eyes” emerging, not just a set of disembodied eyes.

- I would consider mounting some sort (slow!) “scraping” mechanism in the box – I think being able to hear something trying to gnaw its way out of the box when it’s not open would enhance the effect.

- This is a bit far fetched, but I wonder if one could mount some sort of heavy inertial mechanism inside the box, so it could roll from side to side in some sort of jerky tumbling motion. It would of course have an accelerometer/gyro to know when it is “upright”, to do the “opening” part… ;)

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Jeremy C says:

May 24, 2011 at 4:41 am

@Max – Thx for the suggestions! “The Box” isn’t quite done yet, so I’m definitely open to new ideas.

Oddly enough I tried to use an inertial device to spin the head around. It was loosely based on this: http://www.jcopro.net/2011/03/07/the-angular-momentum-roller/ . I don’t think the mass had enough inertia to really do what I wanted. Would be pretty awesome to “roll” it around like you’re talking about…

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JamieWho says:

May 24, 2011 at 5:34 am

Umm. Halloween is usually at the end of October, why have there been two posts referencing Halloween projects in May?
I know I procrastinate a lot, but 5 months seems to be a little early.

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qbert says:

May 24, 2011 at 7:17 am

Procrastination???

Did you ever think that just maybe, they finally got last years project done….

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buzzkill says:

May 24, 2011 at 7:17 am

@ Jeremy – Instead of inertia, you could use some push solenoids through the bottom of the box corners that when activated would push the bottom of the box up. It will make the box hop around like something is thrashing around inside. Look for MIB (monster in box) on the webosphere.

@JaimeWho It is never too early for Halloween posts. Never.

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Procrastination says:

May 25, 2011 at 10:12 am

@qbert

*slow clap*

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Jeremy C says:

May 25, 2011 at 6:09 pm

@buzzkill – that’s a good idea… There’s really a million directions to go with this one.

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