Halloween is my favorite time of the year, what could be better than using one raspberry pie Frighten trick-or-treating people. This year I will make a series of smart devices for my porch on Halloween. I have always wanted to build a zombie arm that will jump out when people walk by-we will show you how to use some pneumatic devices, relays and Raspberry Pi to do this.
What do you need for this project
How to build a Halloween zombie arm with Raspberry Pi
1. Set up your Raspberry Pi. If you don’t know how to do this, please check our on how to set up your Using Raspberry Pi for the first time or How to set up a headless Raspberry Pi (No monitor or keyboard).
2. Install git When necessary, and Clone repository To your Raspberry Pi.
cd ~/
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install git
git clone https://github.com/rydercalmdown/zombie_arm.git
3. Down to the cloned repository with Run the install command Install all lower-level and python-based requirements for the project.
cd ~/zombie_arm
make install
4. Connect your pneumatic control valve to a small piece of wood. This is completely optional, but I like to keep everything in one place.
5. Connect the relay module to a small piece of wood. Again, this is completely optional.
6. Connect the negative poles of the 12v power supply with two small wires Use wire nuts or WAGO connectors.
7. Connect the two negative wires From wire nut/WAGO connector To channels 4 and 3 or the leftmost port of your relay.
8. Connect a few inches of wire to each terminal of the pneumatic control valve; Each end should have a positive and negative wire from it.
9. Connect positive Two wires from the pneumatic control valve Together with the positive end of the 12v power supplyYou can use wire nuts or WAGO connectors to do this.
10. Connect the negative terminal of the wire From pneumatic control valve To the middle port of relay channels 4 and 3.
11. Wiring 12v with Ground pin From your relay To GPIO pins 4 and 6 On the Raspberry Pi.
12. Connect channels 4 and 3 from the relay to GPIO pins 8 and 10 On the Pi.
13. Connect 3 quick connect adapters Connect to the port on the pneumatic control valve, and 2 Arrive at the port On your cylinder.
14. Connect two polyethylene pipes From the pneumatic control valve to each end of the cylinder.
15. Connect compressed air source Input to your pneumatic control valve.
16. Test your system Use the manual push valve on the pneumatic control valve; the cylinder should start.
17. Drill a hole in your Halloween zombie arm with Glue it to the end of the cylinder with hot glue.
18. Setting up the Wyze camera Or Raspberry Pi camera. For this project, you can replace a simple motion sensor, but I want to use person recognition to trigger the hand, so I use Wyze Cam V2 (V3 also works) to handle the detection.
19. Flash the custom RTSP firmware to your Wyze camera Use this tutorial. Installing RTSP support allows us to connect to the camera and grab frames directly using Python.
20. Get RTSP URL value From your Wyze application, and Edit the RTSP_URL variable in the Makefile Point the Raspberry Pi at your camera. You can find the RTSP URL in the “Advanced Settings” section of the Wyze app on your phone.
nano Makefile
# Edit the file with your RTSP URL from your camera
RTSP_URL=rtsp://your_username:your_password@your_camera_ip/live
twenty one. Plug in 12 volt power supply.
twenty two. Test the system by running make run Order. It should start and move the arm as the start of the test, and then activate the arm only when a person is detected. If you move backwards, reverse the two hoses leading to the cylinder.
make run
twenty three. Mount your system In a place that can scare friends and family.
Most of these components are not waterproof, so install them in a way to keep them dry. In addition, the cylinder can be a dangerous component, depending on the pressure it is subjected to. To ensure safety, set the adjuster to the minimum pressure required to move the arm, and make sure that the arm has enough space away from people. Happy Halloween!
