I have just started using the Arduino Starter Kit (includes Arduino Uno) and having a blast with these beginner projects. You cannot imagine the excitement of completing the first project successfully in which pushing a button lights up the red LED. Whoo hoo!
I actually got into this because I want to rig a plastic owl I own for a Halloween prop. This owl has a head that is balanced on a pin and so easily turns and bobs in a breeze. What I want to do eventually is put a little motor inside that will rotate the owl's head randomly. I'm probably very far in being able to pull this off. But conceptually I'd like to know what kind of motor I would use for such a thing. A servo? I've done a little research and I believe the Arduino is capable of what is called a "random sweep" that would generate random rotational movements? Any comments would be very helpful. Thanks!
A servo should be ideal. I assume you only want the head to turn through, say, 180 deg - which is what normal servos do. You can get sail winch servos if you need a greater angle with position control.
You can also get continuous rotation servos (or convert a standard servo) which can rotate continuously in either direction but you can only control their speed - not the position. So I suspect they would not be suitable.
There is a servo sweep example with the Arduino IDE and it would be easy to adapt it to sweep random amounts or at random times.
I have just started using the Arduino Starter Kit (includes Arduino Uno) and having a blast with these beginner projects. You cannot imagine the excitement of completing the first project successfully in which pushing a button lights up the red LED. Whoo hoo!
Robin2:
A servo should be ideal. I assume you only want the head to turn through, say, 180 deg - which is what normal servos do. You can get sail winch servos if you need a greater angle with position control.
You can also get continuous rotation servos (or convert a standard servo) which can rotate continuously in either direction but you can only control their speed - not the position. So I suspect they would not be suitable.
There is a servo sweep example with the Arduino IDE and it would be easy to adapt it to sweep random amounts or at random times.
...R
Actually, I'd like to incorporate some randomness into the owl head movements. Say, for example, the directions would say rotate x degrees to the left (x is random number from 5 to 45 degrees). Wait y seconds (y is random number between 3 and 10 seconds) now rotate to the right x degrees, etcetera. I know, I know, sounds fairly complicated. Is a servo capable of doing these type of movements?
Grumpy_Mike:
No it does not sound complex it will be fairly simple to achieve. Yes that is the sort of movement you can do with a servo.
Awesome, thanks. I already bought a servo from Hobby King for $3 to experiment on once I get through some of these beginner projects. Thanks for your comments!
Here's what I did last year with my first Halloween prop. It uses a motion sensor trigger with a special prop controller to light up a skeleton hanging in my garage window. Has some cool sound effects.
Great video.
My skull is due to be published in The MagPi No.38 at the end of this month so currently the video is under wraps but after the end of this month it will be accessible without any problem at the URL.
The MagPi is a print magazine but is also available as a free download.
Grumpy_Mike:
Great video.
My skull is due to be published in The MagPi No.38 at the end of this month so currently the video is under wraps but after the end of this month it will be accessible without any problem at the URL. Meet Mulder on Vimeo
The MagPi is a print magazine but is also available as a free download.
Hi Mike, can't wait to see it. I'm bookmarking this for later.
