Trying to make an Arduino Motion Sensing Box

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1

Hey what's up:

So I have a question for you guys.. I would like to mount my Arduino along with some speakers and all the necessary motion sensors and audio chips in order to get the box to start producing sounds from the recorded chip when they are triggered by the proximity of an approaching viewer. I would also like to be able to have the box shake and fidget around giving the sense that it is becoming more and more uncomfortable the closer people get in the vicinity. I have no idea as to what microchips besides the Arduino( which I already own) I would need to buy in order to start working on this. Anyone know of any helpful links? I feel like I'm not the first person to want to do something similar, any help would be hot.

Thanks,
M

2

Well, you could probably do it with just the ATMega on board the Arduino. The following are my recommendations

For detecting people:

PIR Motion Sensing

or

Ultrasonic Detection

For playing sound:

The Wave Shield Perhaps?

For the motor (if it's too big, which it most likely is, to power via the Arduino):

Transistors and External power supply

I know all the things are a bit scattered, but hopefully that would give you a general idea about how I'd do it. :slight_smile:

PS: Using the Ultrasonic sensor, you could easily program the Motor and sound to get more frantic by reading how far an object is.

PPS: Please keep in mind you may run out of I/O pins during this project! I don't know which Arduino you have, but you may need the Mega or even multiple Arduinos (or multiplexing, but I'm a noob at that :P)

3

I used a PIR sensor to activate the noisemaker in a pumpkin. It would react to a person as far as 20 ft away but it's either on or off, no indication how far the target is, also as soon as the target stopped moving it dropped out. Ultrasonic might be better for your purpose. Or maybe you need both.

As to noise, there's the wave shield and there's also a library for playing a wav field directly from the arduino.

4

For the handling and shaking bit look for an accelerometer. This is the sort of thing you can get:-

5

Thanks so much for the reply you guys. Just got on it and ordered all the parts I needed! Yeah I think for sure a better choice for this project is the Ultrasonic detector, love the idea of getting more frantic as people get closer. Hopefully I'll be able to build this thing first! Also, can you guys recommend a good overall KIT for a breadboard and all the small transistors and such? I already have an Arduino and I've been eyeing AdaFruit but I haven't been able to get a decent one that would be concise enough for my project. Oh and as you can probably tell I am a total newbie to this whole thing so I might not be sure exactly of what I'm talking about but does anyone have a clue as to how I can go about physically soldering or connecting all these things with the speakers and the Arduino? Are there any good diagrams out there that anyone could recommend? I think I might need a transistor?

Sincerely,

Miguel

PS: Thanks for replying so soon to this forum. I had heard good things about the Arduino community and now I know they are true. Appreciate it.

6

Oh and as you can probably tell I am a total newbie to this whole thing

Hey, everyone was there at some point (I still am mostly :P)

does anyone have a clue as to how I can go about physically soldering or connecting all these things with the speakers and the Arduino?

You could try a Proto Shield? That's how I would do it (if I was going to solder things).

I think I might need a transistor?

Most probably, considering you are using a motor.