We’ve all heard of those chirper devices that randomly make annoying noises for no other reason than sending people insane. This project from [Kousuke Saito] brings altogether more art to this idea, while still being quite annoying indeed.
The build is essentially a replica cicada. [Saito] was inspired to build the device as the sounds of the insect remind him fondly of the summer. His design consists of a 3D-printed housing that roughly approximates something like a cicada, with two wings attached to a central body. In this case, the layer lines of the 3D print actually added to the realism of the ersatz insect The housing is nicely painted to serve as an adequate simulacra to those who aren’t up on their entomology.
Inside, there’s an ATTiny 85 paired with an MP3 playback module and a small speaker. It’s charged with reproducing the noise of various cicadas. It’s setup with an ingenious mechanism to switch it on. There are magnets installed in the base which allow it to stick to metallic objects. There’s also a switch in the bottom of the device. When it magnetically attaches to a surface, that switch is depressed, and the cicada starts playing, well… cicada noises. [Saito] notes that a patent has been secured for the idea.
We’ve seen other cicada-themed projects before, astoundingly. Video after the break.
This is beautiful and wonderful and I dearly hope no one ever hides one in my house!
Are these authentic enough to cause Havana syndrome?
Does it only turn on every 3, 5, or 11 years?
Hey ya’ll, Born and raised in the south and honestly I hate hearing that sound. Just reminds you it’s hot as balls out, mother nature’s verbal thermometer. Although it’s fun to see new yorkers freak out.
Lived in NY. I assure you they are prevalent, as is the sloppy soggy humidity they tend to come with. I do not miss either of them at all.
I once built about 10 timers with 9V batteries, a 4060 and buzzers and hid them in the bedroom on the weddingnight of a young couple. And of course we also removed all the lightbulbs from the house.
The 4060 timers were pretty simple and just turned on after a few hours. It was years ago and uC’s were not that common or cheap, but making the sounds intermittent would have been even better.
Also nice:
Hide something like this in the kitchen or bathroom and let it play the sound of a leaking water faucet at varying intervals :)
Hide it in a car and make it sound like a slipping belt.
Accelerometer and the sound of a clicking CV joint? Make sure you tell them before they actually get the parts ordered though…
Do the cicadias ever get jiggey with it?
There was an article in Popular Electronics magazine around 1970 for a similar device to produce the sound of a cricket chirping. I built several of them for friends (and enemies).
A 2-transistor circuit produced the chirp-chirp sound. It was built on a small speaker, whose magnet conveniently attached it to a hiding place. A photocell only turned it on in the dark, so it was devilishly hard to find!
I remember that! I made it but for some reason it never worked properly. The only real failure I ever had from PopTronics.
Exactly. These circuits jave been around for at least 50 years. This is a nice implementation but it hardly seems novel enough to be worthy of a patent.
Only effective at annoying younger people. Kinda like the hangout area that shopkeepers try to drive away youth from with sounds at 16kHz. I heard bits of the demo enough to recognize some of the bugs. There is one daytime grasshopper here that is more electronic sounding higher pitched piercing with a nonstop zizz.
A room or patio area with many would be something. Also tree frog sounds in a frog shaped model. Havana zizz.
I can make the annual cicada sound rather well and quite loudly too. Teeth and lips whistle with a hum tone and that modulation wah wah. A short burst of the same sound makes a nighthawk sound. I’ve been followed twice on my bike downtown by a raptor thinking there was a low flying meal.
They’ve been selling something very similar to tourists in Provence for decades.
I admire his skill but I hate it and want to kill it with fire.
I’d like to buy one of these. It’s pretty cool.
These are much better than the ones sold in the US in the early 90s. The high pitched chirping is a new one though – I’ve never heard a live cicada do that.