DIY Rickroller

Arduino Technology
DIY Rickroller

Screen Shot 2013-01-03 at 3.42.59 PM

Have you ever been Rickrolled? The bait-and-switch gag is a web classic. But why should the cheesy music of Rick Astley be confined to the internet? Now it doesn’t have to be thanks to computer engineer Zach Rattner.

Zach has created an open source, Arduino-powered device that plays Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” whenever someone walks within 6 feet of the unit’s ultrasonic sensor. When they walk away the music stops, but picks up where it left off when the Rickrollee steps back in range. Zach offers details on the build right here. I love it and so will you.

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4 thoughts on “DIY Rickroller

  1. Andy says:

    It’s Rick Astley not Atley

  2. Henry says:

    A true Rickroll requires voluntary action from the victim. It’s not Rickrolling to drive through downtown with your car blaring the song, but if you asked your passenger to hit play on the CD player because you want him to check out this new band you like, we’re getting warmer.

    What this needs to be is a vending machine of some kind that, once a coin is inserted, spits out the coin and starts playing.

    SCIENCE.

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Stett Holbrook is editor of the Bohemian, an alternative weekly in Santa Rosa, California. He is a former senior editor at Maker Media.

He is also the co-creator of Food Forward, a documentary TV series for PBS about the innovators and pioneers changing our food system.

View more articles by Stett Holbrook

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