The Hangman

The Hangman is a scary and funny device. By means of the expulsion of liquid and turning on some leds we try to recreate different scenes of terror where a dead man opens his eyes and even vomits. Every user who approaches our head will be detected and will start our system where the mouth will open, turn on the leds of the eyes and throw a liquid simulating vomit. After a while, everything will turn off and be ready for a new victim.

Electrical system material:

Arduino UNO

2 Leds

1 Servomotor

1 Motor DC

1 Distance sensor

Some Cables

A Protoboard

1 bridge in H: L298N

Material of the structure:

DM fiber or plywood plank of about 800x600 with a thickness of 4mm

Prototyping foam

Latex head

Silicone glue

Hacksaw

Sandpaper

Laser machine in case we want to do it more clean, if not, we can do it by cutting de wood plank by hand

Black cloth

Confetti spray

Before starting with the construction of our head we must have the Arduino programmed and built with its respective parts.

THE CODE:

We will need to include two libraries to make it work: HCSR04.h for the distance sensor and Servo.h for the servomotor.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE CODE AND COPY IT.

The first step will be to design the interior structure, which will go inside the head which will shape and place the Arduino system without it being seen. To do this, we will take the wooden plate and draw, by hand or by computer, two circles with a cross in the middle that will be the plants and then two columns. We attach the 2D AUTOCAD DRAWING used in the project.

Once drawn by hand on the plate or by computer, we will have to cut it out. For this, if we have done it by hand, we will use a saw and sandpaper to achieve the desired shape, but as we have done it can be cut with a laser machine to avoid imperfections.

The next step will be to build the frame cut out of the wood. We will intertwine the two columns and place the two bases, one in the middle (the smallest diameter) and the other up to the top of the column (the largest diameter). To ensure that they do not move, we will glue them with silicone using a silicone gun. With the excess part of the wood we will build two semicircles that adapt to the mouth of our mask. We will stick one on the back of the first base. The other we will keep.

To give more shape to the mask inside we will use prototyping foam to shape the lower jaw. We will stick this foam on top of the second semicircle created for the mouth.

Here we show you how the different parts of the arduino are mounted and the different pin's of the board that we have used to make it work.

The next step will be to introduce the Arduino system inside the structure. The motor that drives the mouth will be located on the back face of the first floor at one end. For this we will use the silicone gun. For the motor that powers the spray, you glue it with silicone on the central column, leaving aside the motor that powers the nozzle. The LEDs will go on top of the first floor hooked with silicone to the eyes of the mask and the ultrasound sensor in the lowest part of the structure. The motherboard and cables can be placed inside the mask on one of the two floors.

To finish, we will hook the back part of the jaw to the motor by means of a lateral bar where the movement is distributed. And we will place the confetti spray under the motor that drives it. The outlet of the spray must coincide with the hole in the mouth. Once the structure is covered with the mask, we will have our man hanged.

To improve its aesthetics and that of more fear we can modify the mask by putting some wounds and blood on it to give a greater scare. Also covering the bottom with a black cloth and putting some ornaments like a rope.

We will have our hangman finished after these simple steps!

Through the use of the main Arduino codes and the basic components of this we have managed to build an interactive experience with a Halloween theme. We have managed to overcome all the difficulties that have arisen at the level of code, electronic assembly or volumetric assembly, the latter being the most costly. We wanted our hangman to manifest himself by means of three stimuli, the light of the eyes, the movement of the mouth and the exit of a spray through the latter. This helps us to make the user curious about the object and want to use it more times.

Arduino's knowledge before this project was basic and very simple, thanks to this work we have been able to improve and internalize the operation of this tool giving us the freedom to start the new project challenge.