Halloween Ghost Decoration With Arduino

This ghost decoration is a "spooky" addition to your Halloween and has mechanical functions. When you walk past the ghost, it gets frightened, lights up, makes a ghost sound, and moves its hands frantically. The customization and scalability allow you to make it your own.

Parts List:

Sheet of 1/8" birch wood, Arduino, breadboard, 2x Servos, Neopixel strand, hc-sr04 ultrasonic sonar distance sensor, speaker, pillowcase, two solo cups, cardboard, masking tape, Alien Tape, portable charger, paper towels(or fabric of any kind), and plenty of pins!

First, tape the two tops of the solo cups together with masking tape. Then, attach the distance sensor with Alien Tape at whatever height you want the eyes to be (I kept them closer to the edge of the solo cup). After this, you want to tape the servos on either sides of the cup evenly and attach pieces of cardboard to the end of the motors (these will be the "hands"). Last, wrap the NeoPixel strand around the solo cups, with the output wire facing downward.

Once these parts are on, roll up a ball of paper towels and tape it to the top of the solo cups, this gives the ghost a round head shape.

I found that using Alien Tape works the best for this project because it is extremely sticky and double sided.

For this box, I used the 1/8" birch wood, cut it with finger joints, and with the dimensions of 6"X3"X4". The size of the box will be completely dependent on the size of the breadboard used, however, it is important to leave enough space for the wiring. Cut a 2.5" in diameter circle on the top of the box to feed the wires through, and a smaller rectangular hole on the side to plug in the Arduino. Glue the sides and bottom of the box together, but leave the top loose so you can easily access the wires.

Copy this code into CircuitPython. This will tell the Arduino the actions to perform to make the ghost work.

This is the most complex step of the project as there are many parts that need to be plugged into the Arduino. It is helpful to have the pinout map of the Nano RP2040 Connect to see where to place the wires.

Once everything is plugged in, place the Arduino into the box, and plug the respective pins into the parts of the ghost.

Once everything is wired, secure the cups to the top of the box to keep it stable. Next, put the pillow case on top of the ghost and cut holes out where the distance sensor is so the ghost can "see". Trim the bottom of the pillow case to right below the box so it covers all the wires and secure the pillow case to the cups with Alien Tape.

Once the proper coding and wiring is done, watch the ghost come alive! As you walk in front of the decoration, the distance sensor should detect you and the sequence should start. Enjoy and scare your friends!!