DIY Hacks & How To’s: Motion Tracking Skull

Education

My name is Jason Poel Smith. I have an undergraduate degree in Engineering that is 50% Mechanical Engineering and 50% Electrical Engineering. I have worked in a variety of industries from hydraulic aerial lifts to aircraft tooling. I currently spend most of my time chasing around my new baby. In my spare time I make the how-to series "DIY Hacks and How Tos."

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September 26th, 2013

[youtube=http://youtu.be/Qr9DADx8EGA]

Interactive Halloween props are always fun. So in this project I designed a simple motion tracking system that will make your Halloween props turn to look at people and follow their movements as they walk by.

To do this, I mounted a servo to the bottom of a foam skull. Then I set up an array of light sensors in front of it. When a person walks in front of it, the light sensors will detect the person’s shadow. An Arduino then calculates where they are standing and turns a servo to face them. When they move, the system adjust and turns the skull to face their new position. You can set this up on a shelf or fence where people will be walking by. It stays still until someone is right next to it. You can surprise a lot of people simply because they aren’t expecting it to move.

Check out the full build on Make: Projects and Instructables.

See the full series here.