Building an Electronic Halloween Pumpkin

Overview

The project aims to create an electronic Halloween pumpkin by upgrading a cheap plastic pumpkin using a bit of hacking.

Explanation

The Halloween pumpkin will animate the LEDs on its face and play scary music when the sensor embedded in the nose detects people getting in close proximity. The behavior of the pumpkin can be easily modified because of the code written for an Arduino and to easily customize and change what the pumpkin says, the sounds are kept on an SD card. The sound effects may come from varieties of CDs and mp3 packages.

The sound effects are played through a speaker that is connected to the shield. There are two distance sensors that can be used including the sonar which is suitable for longer ranges and the IR which is suitable for close range. The sonar sensor is used since the pumpkin will be activated a few meters away.

The plastic pumpkin can be purchased from a local drug store and they are perfect for stashing electronic wiring since they are hollow. The sonar is placed by cutting a hole in the nose. The LEDs are placed in the eyes and mouth.