Why enter the competition
>I have checked out a few of the other Halloween projects and they are great!
>Many fun Halloween pi ideas just wont leave the back of my mind
>The Element14 Challenges are Fun
Project Scope
Right, well I’m guessing you have watched the above video. Lets talk about the plan in a little more detail.
Aim:
Pi based vision based project that is scary, fun and would make a great project for people interested in the Rpi and vision. I get maybe as little as 20 trick or treaters a year all on the old side for trick or treating. So my plan is to try and scare them, I have a particular creepy corner at the front of my house that would fit a large figure well.
Flow Chart
Death will be a scale model with a real scythe [secured into the ground and blunted] with a mister permanently on flowing fog from under his cloak, beside him will be a chest full of candy.
The screen will be in “Deaths” outstretched left hand and the children will get to select how many children there are. I am hoping most children will be greedy and select a number greater than the number there.
If the selected number is greater than the number seen in the camera the head controlled by two servo’s will turn to look at the child the red led’s behind the eyes will come on and with the mister and a speaker will say “ Liers do not get candy“ the head will then pan around and “there are only X souls before me” the head will turn back to its defauly position and the children will get a second chance “ select again my honest minions”. And we will loop back to the options again.
Child selects a number equal to or less than the number seen in camera view
As for the candy delivery portion, we will skip automating this bit due to costs. we will just have a chest full of candy and mist.
ISR
ISR will be based on a switch on the candy box Lid, if the box is opened without first playing the game.
Voice Clips
The interaction with the player will be via a computer generated voice complemented by head movement and other special effects [Eye LED's, Fog].
[1] " Liar" [Red Led Behing eyes comes on, mist from mouth hole, followed by a pan motion of the head] " I see Y souls before me"
[2] [ Makes eye contact with primary player] "Try your luck again my minion"
[3][Head pans to count number of faces] " I too see X Souls here"
[4]"take your candy my minions and go fourth" [Led's turn green, looks at the candy chest] Led's in chest will dimly light.
[5][ ISR based, red led's on mist on] "Thief's Be Warned! , Play the game or perish"
Potential problems
>The Facedetection is relatively easy, but we will have to take care to make sure it can detect a mask too.
>Theft, where I want to place the unit is on the edge of the property in a particular spooky spot, Easy for a theif to take the whole thing, but it is relatively remote and we usually see around 20 trick or treaters. so we will just take our chances.
>The Kids might rinse the box containing the treats, we will have to hope they are too scared to do this and check on it every so often to top up if needed.
Parts I already Have:
> Red LED’s
>Ultrasonic foger [Already have a diy version of this and it would make a great DIY BLOG]
>Syth
> Opto Isolators for actuators
>Webcam/Pi Camera
>Small Speaker
Parts I will need to source:
If you can help out with any of these I would be very grateful.
>Supplied touch screen
>Pi 2b [Element14Dave said he has sent one in the post, but a second one would make life much easier]
>2x Servo’s [for the mask pan/tilt]
> “Screem” Mask and Cloak, [will get these from the dollar store]
I hope I managed to put across what I envision, the first prototype will explain it much better than words alone could do,
Mike
