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Raspberry Pi Protects Candy by Screaming at Trick or Treaters
Halloween 2022 may have already been and gone but this project serves as inspiration for 2023! Haloween is an exciting holiday but what can you do to stop would-be candy thieves from running off with all of your sweet treats? Dr. David Pride has developed a Raspberry Pi-powered solution to this problem with his “Super Spooky Sweetie Stealer Stopper” project. When trick-or-treaters approach the candy bowl, this Pi-powered horror blasts them with air duster while emitting a horrifying scream.
Dr. Pride joined our Raspberry Pi-themed podcast, The Pi Cast, and he showed us what the project looks like in action and provided a thorough breakdown of its design. According to Dr. Pride, he was inspired to create the project while cleaning an old PC with a can of compressed air. Spraying the can while upside down creates a visible smoky blast which it makes it the perfect tool for his screaming mask project.
Dr. Pride created a frame for the project to secure all of the components in place including the Pi, a Bluetooth speaker and additional components that trigger the spray can. LEDs were tossed in to illuminate the mask, as well, while the compressed air blasts out of the Scream mask’s mouth. All of these events are triggered using a motion sensor module and include a cool-down time so it isn’t continuously screaming.
Dr. Pride was kind enough to share a complete hardware list for anyone interested in recreating the project themselves. He’s using a Raspberry Pi 3 to drive the entire operation along with a ZeroBorg motor controller to help operate the NEMA-17 stepper motor. A PIR sensor is used to detect motion and a battery bank makes the unit portable. The frame is constructed with a piece of metal, a laser-cut frame and foam board pieces.
The software was written by Dr. Pride from scratch in Python. He would also like to add that any trick-or-treater who successfully made it past the Super Spooky Sweetie Stealer Stopper was rewarded with a chest full of goodies that is also Pi-powered and plays music when opened.
If you’d like to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, check out the original video shared to YouTube by Dr. David Pride and head over to our podcast for an interview with the madman behind this super scary and super brilliant Raspberry Pi creation.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
