Advice on Art Installation using Motion Sensors and Sound

[reesjonm]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice/help/a solution for an art installation that I'm working on. I'm very much a beginner with Arduino, having just received the Elegoo Mega 2560 for Christmas. I have been going through the tutorials as well as watching some videos on youtube, however, I've come to realize that what I'm looking for is relatively complicated and would take me longer than I would like to learn how to do (although I do plan to keep working through tutorials to develop a real understanding of how Arduino and coding work). One of my colleagues (I teach Sculpture and Glassblowing at a midwest University), who is much more familiar with Arduino and Rasberri Pi has mentioned that what i'm looking for can't be done, however, I have a hard time believing that.

Here's what I'm looking for within this project: I have an old rotary phone and a new answering machine (from walmart....see attachment "phone") that I'm planning on gutting (maybe using what parts from the inside that I can) and filing the interior space with Arduino/Rasberri Pi components to achieve the effects outlined in options 1 & 2 of the attachments.

Essentially, what I would like to have happen is that as people approach the phone/answering machine in the gallery, the HC-SR04 senses movement near the installation (6-10 feet away from it). I hope to mount the sensor in the housing of either the phone or answering machine. When the sensor detects motion, I would like the phone to ring. If the phone is picked up, I would like a speaker in the handset to play an audio file. If not, I would like the audio file to play louder via the answering machine. (Option 1) In this option, the audio file for the phone is lets say a series of "messages". However, the audio file for the answering machine should be the answering machine prompt, followed by a series of messages. (see option 1 attachment for workflow)

Option 2 (the preferred option) is a little more complicated. In this case, only one of the messages is played at a time (either via the phone handset or the answering machine, although the answering machine prompt should still play before the message.) (See option 2 attachment for workflow)

For hardware, I currently have the Elegoo Mega2560 and Arduino UnoR3, a Rasberry Pi 4 Model B, a few 4ohm 3watt speakers, a serial MP3 player(with microSD card slot), and microSD card adapters. Some of this has been purchased to try online tutorials (somewhat unsuccessfully). I'm willing to purchase any additional components that might be necessary for this project.

Also, I'm definitely willing to compensate someone for a successful turnkey solution, albeit, I am a poor artist/educator. But I'm sure I can scrape something reasonable together as compensation. Also willing to trade glass art (I don't make pipes).
Any assistance would very much appreciated!

[uxomm]

For those who have problems to view the pictures (like me) here they are:

[uxomm]

I have worked for various exhibitions and also at a small museum and have done similar things. So for someone with medium experience in electronics and programming micro controllers it should not be a big problem to make something like this.
However as a first project it could be challenging.

Some thoughts on your project

The hardware you got is a good starting point.

HC-SR04 may not sense "movement" but distance to an object. So it can be recognized whether someone is close to the phone.

Serial MP3 player is the "heart" of all audio parts.

Phone ringing:
You could also use the phone's bell and make it ring "for real".
Take a loo here: Making (Old) Telephone(s) Ring

Anserwing machine:
Probably only the speaker and the enclosure is useful for your project, so "gutting" is the way to go.

The Phone has already a speaker in the telephone receiver. Pretty often you can use this speaker as it is.

You may need some relay boards to route the sound to the appropriate speaker.

You may also need an audio amplifier if you find out, that the speaker of the answering machine is not loud enough.
Maybe something like this will do the job: Adafruit Mono 2.5W Class D Audio Amplifier - PAM8302 : ID 2130 : $3.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

An Arduino UNO will do the job without any problems (if you need a smaller form factor use a Nano).

If you were nearby, I would be very happy to support you especially with the hardware part. But because I live in Europe, we are not on the same continent.

Maybe they could find someone in your area. Maybe there is a Fablab close to you.
Or take a look here: Gigs and Collaborations

[reesjonm]

Thank you so much for the advice uxomm!