Using servos in a cat toy -- looking for advice on range of motion

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
#1

Hi folks,

I'm working on an Arduino-powered cat toy that makes a laser dot move in an attractive manner around a large area in a room. The idea is that this thing will be mounted onto a wall or ceiling, and I'll have controls that let you adjust speed and range of motion. Links to videos of what I've got so far are at the end of this post.

The motor setup is just a couple of mini-servos, one mounted onto the other, so that I get a 90-degree range of motion in two dimensions. The sketch moves the servos around randomly--nothing fancy!

My question to you folks is whether there's a better, more compact, or more elegant way of getting that kind of range of motion. I'd like to solder all of this together and put it into a project box eventually.

I'm not very experienced with mechanisms or electronics--this is my first "big" project--so any advice or feedback would be appreciated!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smgc41S5Ml0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGLY3mGZ-DU

#2

I like your work! It is funny to watch the cats.

I don't have a specific solution but, you could build your pointer like a robot arm and possibly have a rotating base. You could use a lever type system that would "multiply" the movement of the servo.

If you put a counter of some sort to make your servo moments a little slower and fluid that might help make it less jerky.

Mark

#3