Halloween Prop: Glowing Spooky Eyes

October 24, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 6 Comments

spooky_halloween_eyes_pic_microcontroller (Custom)

Would you like some spooky glowing eyes that light up and play a sound when someone gets near? This circuit makes it pretty simple. It uses a single phototransistor to detect someones presence. Instead of having a preset threshold that needs to be met, it simply triggers any time there is a sufficient change in the amount of light it detects. If you put one of these in a nice dark spot, your halloweeners will only see the LEDs and perceive them as eyes. It might also be cool to somehow add motion to this.

We’re running out of time to prepare for Halloween, don’t forget to send in your projects.

[via HackedGadgets]

Shift Powered Pumpkins

October 19, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 15 Comments

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[Garret] and a couple of friends totally stole our idea wanted to light up their pumpkins a bit differently this year. They used some ShiftBrites and all the corresponding shift hardware (who knew there was so much shift out there) to bring their carved orange minions to life. Yes, this could be done a lot less modulated by using a regular LED and perhaps a PIC. Maybe it’s not the most technically challenging, but hey its in the spirit of Halloween – one of our favorite holidays. Speaking of which, doesn’t that fence look familiar? Check out a video after the break. Seriously, Mutton Chops? Continue reading “Shift Powered Pumpkins” →

Animatronic Winged Demon Terrorizes Local Garage

October 16, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 11 Comments

WingedDemonVideo005

Halloween is on its way, and if you’re going to do it right, you’re going to overdo it right. A few days ago we showed you [Jake’s] flying Crank Ghost, the idea is simple and creates lovely motion that is sure to scare some small children. But what if you want people leaving your little shop of horrors needing a new pair of pants? Meet the Animatronic Winged Demon by [Woody]. Very little info is given except for the touch screen controller, the central control system, and his unique use of a modular skeleton, but the project is very impressive none the less. If the demon doesn’t scare you, take a look at the miles of wires needed to control it. Check out a video after the break.

[via HackedGadgets] Continue reading “Animatronic Winged Demon Terrorizes Local Garage” →

A Modular Halloween With Grid Beam

October 8, 2009 by Phil Burgess 3 Comments

gridbeam

The fantastic Creatrope blog has a great article on quickly assembling animatronic Halloween gags using salvaged electric motors, pvc pipe, and “grid beam” construction.

Grid beam is a prototyping and building medium that’s like a giant hippie Erector set. You can’t buy grid beam, but with a drill press, a jig, and some square stock you can create your own unlimited supply. It’s ideal for “sketching” and temporary constructions like these Halloween props. After use, everything can be dismantled, stored flat, and later reused for the next [Herbie Hancock] music video creative project. Looks like fun!

The article wraps up with some valuable pointers on getting started with grid beam and where to acquire parts.

Scare ’em Silly With A Moving Pumpkin

October 7, 2009 by Mike Szczys 4 Comments

rovin_pumpkin

Halloween is a scary time for the little ones. It’s dark, they can barely see through their injection molded Spiderman masks, but it’s all worth it for the candy.

Our friends over at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have produced a pumpkin that moves on its own. The little pumpkin was disemboweled from the bottom and its guts were replaced by a simple robot. Three Lego wheels provide this base with one attached to a continuous rotation servo that provides the motion. The device is powered by 3 AAA batteries and powered by an Atmel ATtiny2313 microcontroller. For added terror there are two green LEDs that act as ghoulish eyes.

We’ve embedded the video of the Rovin Pumpkin in action after the break. This is a wonderfully simple way to spice up your front porch decorations on All Hallows’ Eve. Continue reading “Scare ’em Silly With A Moving Pumpkin” →

Halloween Prop: Bigmouth Billy Bass

October 6, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 8 Comments

Back in 2001, the Bigmouth billy bass was still relatively new. Hacking one to record and play back both audio and movement was quite a new feat. You can read all about how they pulled it off. Though most of us agree that this could be done easier now, with off the shelf microcontrollers, this is a great example of constructing your own system to fit the need. We’ve seen a similar hack done very recently with an mbed microcontroller.

Halloween Props: Low Cost Popup

October 5, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 3 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJoedH9thds]

[Backroads] has put together this nicely detailed writeup explaining how to make a low cost popup prop. He’s using a single pneumatic valve and a home made PVC piston to raise and lower a scary mask. He’s using an off-the-shelf 110v AC valve controller to control the valve. A flickering light, a “screamer” and a fog machine help fill out the project. The result is quite nice. We would be tempted to put a pressure sensor in front of it to optimize the scare timing.