This week on Maker Update: Arduinos on the ceiling, a Cookie Monster for your home, looking out for pedestrians, barbwire wear, and turning foam board into foreheads.

++Show Notes [Maker Update Ep.304]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Flux by Nicholas Stedman
https://hackaday.io/project/187446-flux-kinetic-art-installation

-=News=-

CircuitPython 8.0.0 Beta
https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/releases/tag/8.0.0-beta.1

-=More Projects=-

Halloween Cookie Monster by dh_dave
https://www.instructables.com/Halloween-Cookie-Monster/

Gazing Car by Chia-Ming Chang
http://chiamingchang.com/gazingcarproject.html

Faux Barbed Wire Choker and Bracelet by Penolopy Bulnick
https://www.instructables.com/Faux-Barbed-Wire-Choker-and-Bracelet/

DiResta Huge Head
https://youtu.be/e-pxrbDlw10

-=Tips & Tools=-

Designing LED Noodle Shapes in Fusion 360 via @ecken
https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/10/07/layer-by-layer-designing-led-noodle-shapes-in-fusion-360-via-ecken/

FastLED Animator by Noah
https://www.fastledanimator.com/create

Mecanum Wheel Chassis Car for Robot Car DIY by Hiwonder
https://www.tindie.com/products/hiwonder/mecanum-wheel-chassis-car-for-robot-car-diy/

Clever Shop Jigs and Hacks from Max Maker
https://www.core77.com/posts/116853/Clever-Shop-Jigs-and-Hacks-from-a-Creative-Product-Design-Engineer

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

Scaredy Pi – AGM | The Resident Geeks
https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/projects/fb973b3547bc4583bf9b8cecb0673a47

-=Transcript=-

This week on Maker Update: Arduinos on the ceiling, a Cookie Monster for your home, looking out for pedestrians, barbwire wear, and turning foam board into foreheads.

Hey everyone, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update. I hope you’re all doing well and taking a moment to engage with something creative for Halloween. I have a great show for you, with a few Halloween ideas in here to spark some inspiration. So let’s get started with the project of the week.

This one’s not at all related to Halloween but you have to check out this ceiling mounted kinetic art piece designed by Nicholas Stedman.

At 40 feet long, it’s initially overwhelming to think of creating a motorized piece at this scale. But when you look closer, you can see that it’s actually a series of 20 identical planks, each with two stepper motors controlled by an Arduino.

Each plank is ultimately wired up to a Raspberry Pi that orchestrates the movement using a Node.js program. Still, if you wanted to try making something similar, a design like this really comes down to figuring out that first, modular plank. After that, you can scale it to fit the environment.

I also like the use of laminated foam here. It looks like a bunch of shiny, futuristic metal up there, but it’s really lightweight foam encased in a thin metallic finish. Not only does this make it less dangerous, if any piece were to fall off, but it also reduces the strain on the stepper motors that are holding and rotating each of the wedges.

The project is light on details, but you can find a brief description and some build photos on his Hackaday project page.

Now for some news. Version 8.0 of the CircuitPython programming language has been released in beta form.

There’s improved support for the Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico W, and it’s RP2040 chip, generally.

But the major new feature is a Wi-Fi workflow mode that makes it possible for you to discover CircuitPython devices over a local Wi-Fi connection and interact with them just like you would with a wired connection – including uploading new code.

You can find more information on the CircuitPython GitHub page, linked in the description.

Now for more projects. As far as monsters go, I think Halloween has done a fairly poor job at honoring Cookie Monster.

I mean, he’s a highly recognizable monster, he’s notorious for his sweet tooth, and he has the voice of a death metal singer.

Dh_dave on Instructables has the right idea with this giant Cookie Monster halloween decoration.

The clincher on this one is really the rotating eyes. I also like how there’s a night mode where the mouth lights up with those LED flame flicker lamps to give Cookie Monster a bit more of a menacing edge.

What makes the project extra great in my book is that Dave includes a template file you can use to recreate exactly this design. Not only does this take the guesswork out of the shape, but it also includes the exact placement for the motors and pulleys for the eyes.

There’s no code, no microcontrollers. The geared motors here just plug right into household AC.

But googly eyes aren’t just for monsters. Chia-Ming Chang and a group at the University of Tokyo created this proof of concept self-driving car with animatronic eyes.

Yes, it’s adorable. But they have a whole study on how outfitting autonomous cars with these eyes can reduce pedestrian accidents.

You know how when you’re walking in front of a car you’ll typically look at the driver to get a sense if they see you? These eyes are meant to serve that same function for self-driving cars. If the eye’s aren’t looking at you as a pedestrian, you get an instinctive sense that the car doesn’t see you.

And if they are looking at you, then you know that the car see you and will avoid you – or possibly the AI has become sentient and is about to hunt you for sport.

But how cute, right?

Speaking of cute, if you’re looking for a quick 3D printed Halloween accessory, check out these barbwire chokers and bracelets from Penolopy Bulnick.

She includes the STL files along with the original Tinkercad file, which you can use to modify the design or adjust the length to whatever you need.
Alright, last project. Did you all see Jimmy DiResta’s giant foam head project? This one was a real surprise, and like nothing I’ve seen him do before.

You get to see him go from creating a real rough form using foam board and expanding spray foam. Then he starts shaping it using a rasp to whittle things away and the spray foam to build things up.

The top of the head gets some fiberglass sheets and epoxy just for strength. Then comes a whole bunch of this Bondo-like product, for a hard coating that can be sanded smooth. Then primer, paint, and I’m assuming a gloss coat of some kind.

The result looks great and has me inspired to experiment with some of these techniques for big, goofy decorations.

Now for a few tips and tools. On Adafruit, the Ruiz brothers have a guide on designing press-fit 3D printed shapes for thin LED noodle strands.

These wiggly LED filament strands aren’t too useful on their own. But once you can trap and shape them with a 3D printed frame, you can create all kinds of light accents and little signs.

Last week I got an email from Noah inviting me to check out this FastLED animation web app. And it’s a really easy way to create your own neopixel LED light sequence without spending any time sorting out the code.

You just paint your pattern and simulate it until you’re happy with the result, and then you can upload it straight to your connected Arduino without ever having to launch the IDE.

Definitely worth a try, especially if customizing LED animations has frustrated you in the past, or if you’re looking for a very specific result that hacking demo code just won’t provide.

On Tindie I found this mecanum wheel robot chassis by Hiwonder for under $50. Seems too good to be true, but I guess the cost of these wheels have come down a lot since I looked into it around 4 years ago.

I’m not vouching for this specific kit. I’m just saying that if you’ve been putting off playing with mecanum wheels until the prices come down, now seems to be the right time.

And through the Core77 blog I came across the jig-making wizardry of Max Maker. Check out how he iterates this foam cutting jig. He’s using this to create custom packing material for drawer slides that he ships out. I just love the mindset of optimizing the process to this degree, and pushing it further and further. It’s inspiring.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight, we’re doing a flashback to the Scaredy Pi project from Kyle.

This is an automated candy dispenser using a Raspberry Pi, a Pi camera, a big, smashable button, and a generic pet feeder. It’s a fun project that doesn’t need a ton of parts.

You can find a link to the video and full documentation using the link in the description.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. Best of luck for your Halloween decorating. Big thanks to Digi-Key. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you soon.