Automated Captain Underpants Toilet

At hacker Joe Hamblin’s local county fair, they have a toilet decorating contest — yes, you read that correctly — and after submitting a toilet airplane a few years ago, he decided that his next attempt would be automated via Arduino control. His neighbor’s five-year-old son suggested a Captain Underpants theme, so he set to work turning this toilet into an automated super hero.

The resulting toilet looks more-or-less normal upon first glance, with the exception of a red cape draped over the tank lid, and an ultrasonic sensor suspiciously peering out at onlookers. If this were encountered in a normal bathroom situation, an observer would be shocked to find that the tank lid automatically opens, revealing light-up Ping Pong ball eyes, along with the theme music playing from Captain Underpants. If that wasn’t strange enough, the lid also opens, revealing a rather scary set of teeth!

Control is via two Arduino boards, one of which handles audio output via an Adafruit Wave Shield. The other acts as a master device, getting input from the ultrasonic sensor, and tells the other other device when to start the music. The toilet bowl and tank lids are raised and lowered via a windshield wiper motor assembly, and the performance is enhanced by the eyes blinking green along with the music.