Snap-O-Lantern Kit

Just in time for Halloween, we’re launching a Snap-O-Lantern kit. You can still build this robotic snapping pumpkin from scratch using our original instructions, or you can do it the easy way with this kit, which uses one of our ATtiny2313 target boards and has all the parts you’ll need— except the mini-pumpkin and three AA batteries.

We’re putting the full documentation for the kit on our wiki.

9 thoughts on “Snap-O-Lantern Kit

  1. I’m simply an inexperienced mom helping an 11 year old NPR listener. I’m looking for the servo horn extender online and am not sure what to order. Does this fit the bill?
    Thank you for helping the next generation!

    1. The link didn’t insert but here’s the title at ebay…
      RC Airplane Glass Fiber Servo Arm Extension Standard Size (B13194)

    2. That might work, but I’m not exactly sure how it would mount to the servo. You’re probably better off mechanically attaching *something* to the servo horn that will extend it– for example a popsicle stick. It certainly doesn’t need to be fiberglass.

  2. I built two of these for the 2013 season. I greatly enhanced and updated the basic code that EMS posted and added more servo ranges (now pinds B0-B5 each have a different servo range with B0 being the least and B5 being the most), including a double “mouth bounce” at the end to enhance the effect. (you can get the code here: https://github.com/scotttaggart/snap-o-lantern). To use my code, you will have to figure out how to program the attiny2313 with your computer. Here’s a poor qualitt video of the new code: http://youtu.be/7M6Actvrb9Y

    Also, I made these enhancements to building the snap-o:
    1) I uses a cut bicycle spoke for the hinge (passed it all the way through both sides of the pumpkin). This makes the hinging much more reliable and sturdy.
    2) I cut a thin sheet of clear plastic (not suranwrap) and adhered it to the top-inside of the pumpkin so the servo arm would ride on this plastic “bearing” surface instead of the raw pumpkin. This makes the pumpkin last longer and the “lift” smoother.
    3) I mounted the servo on a thin piece of aluminum plate that sits inside the bottom 1/2 of the pumpkin. This plate helps keep the servo stable during operation and makes the mouth opening process smooth and reliable.
    4) If you use my code you can hook a piezo buzzer to pin D3 of the attiny2313 that will sound during the mouth open time. (you can hear it and see it in the above mentioned video).
    5) you can email me at taggart at taggarts dot org with questions, etc.

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