Halloween is just around the corner, and the spooky themed tips are just starting to roll in. If you’re looking to one-up the basic store-bought decorations, and maybe teach your kid the basics of an Arduino while you’re at it — why not build a Peek-A-Boo Ghost!
Using an Arduino, two servo motors and an ultrasonic distance sensor it’s pretty easy to make this cute little ghost that covers its eyes when no one is around. They’re using cardboard for the ghost, but if you have access to a laser cutter at your hackerspace, you could make it a lot more robust using MDF or plywood.
When the ultrasonic distance sensor senses someone coming towards it, it’ll trigger the arms to move — though it’d be easy to add a small speaker element too and get some spooky music going as well!
For even more spooky hacks, check out our coverage of last year’s Halloween Night at Pololu! Including impatient severed fingers, a robotic exorcism baby, and not to mention some stabby silhouettes for your windows!
Nice ;)
But I think only one servo was needed.
They could have done it with just one servo as the arms always move together and not independently
Instead of a Ghost, print out a photo of a mother and her hands. Then the baby can play Peek-a-Boo for hours while the mother gets in a nap. B^)
+1
Cool little project. Why did you have to mention to maybe use a laser cutter to make it out of MDF or plywood. Why not mention using a jig saw, scroll saw or band saw. Most of the time it will be faster for me to use a good old fashion saw than to draw out the design and find a laser cutter or CNC to get it done.
Thank you for this article James Hobson.
It is always nice to see a beginners project mentioned on HaD.
Thank you for sharing. It makes me feel inspired.
It inspired me to make my own ghost, though it doesn’t play Peek-a-Boo.
and of course I forgot to post the link: https://hackaday.io/project/8281-halloween-ghost