Published October 20, 2019

Halloween Decoration

Interactive spider that's eyes light up and web that plays tunes.

BeginnerFull instructions provided6 hours1,244

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino LilyPad USB

SparkFun LilyPad Buzzer

SparkFun LilyPad Button Board

SparkFun LilyPad LED Red (5pcs)

Sewable Conductive Thread

Li-Ion Battery 100mAh

Software apps and online services

Arduino Web Editor

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Needles

Scissors, Free Fall

Story

Halloween is right around the corner. Parents are excited to decorate their homes for the season and participate in the spooky festivities going on in the community with their children. Halloween stores work to support the demand by selling simple decorations.

I wanted to take halloween decorations to a new level by exploring an interactive, festive approach. This will allow children to better connect with the toy decoration and remain entertained throughout the season. My goal for my spider web decoration prototype was to highlight the spiders activities by using LED’s and musical tunes.

Additional Supplies(not listed):

Metallic Pen
Black Construction Paper
Plastic Spider
Picture Frame
Festive Ribbon

Final Prototype

Step 1: Map out the circuits

My prototype combines to separate objects together. It was important to map out the circuits in the beginning to avoid any collisions with negative and positive charges.

Digital analysis of prototype and map of the circuits

Color coded circuits to help further investigate & plan my approach.

Step 2: Code & test

(Code can be found under the attachments)

The next step involves loading the code onto the board and testing the code. It is important to make sure it runs smoothly during this phase.

Cables are a very effective tool. They help you troubleshoot issues before embedding the technology.

Step 3: Build the components

In this phase it is important to consider how you want the web and spider to look. I choose to purchase a plastic spider and draw some of the web in metallic pen so I did not have to figure out how to create it all in conductive thread.

The spider web drawing behind the conductive thread helped the aesthetic of my spider web.

Step 4: Sew pieces together

Using the sketch you created previously, begin sewing all of the conductive thread together to create the final prototype. Make sure the thread does not interact with other circuits. This can cause the final prototype not to work.

Allow yourself time to construct the final prototype.

FinalTakeaways: After completing prototype

Combining more than one interaction into a single e-textile board’s code loop will inevitably not run smoothly. My prototype contains a button press activation and a touch, tune application that runs completely independently in the same code loop. When running the code separately they work perfectly. However, when they are combined it causes the button function to not work properly. If the tune has been initiated, it has to completely finish the tune before the button activation can work again because of the loop feature. It sometimes has issues even beyond this due to the board getting caught in the loop.

Start with sketching, build the code, THEN prototype. Prototypes can get really complicated because the negative and positive threads cannot touch. Therefore, if you begin building the prototype and coding as you go it will get very complicated and you will most likely have to start over multiple times to successfully make everything work

Halloween Decoration Code

//LED Light
int buttonPin = A4;
int buttonLED = A5;
int touchPin = A5;
int buzzer = 11;

//Tune
int NOTE_C5 = 523;
int NOTE_CS5 = 554;
int NOTE_D5 = 587;
int NOTE_DS5 = 622;
int NOTE_E5 = 659;
int NOTE_F5 = 698;
int NOTE_FS5 = 740;
int NOTE_G5 = 784;
int NOTE_GS5 = 831;
int NOTE_A5 = 880;
int NOTE_AS5 = 932;
int NOTE_B5 = 988;
int NOTE_C6 = 1047;

int tempo = 500;

void setup()
{
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(touchPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(buttonLED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(buzzer, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  int buttonState;
  int touchState;

  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  touchState = digitalRead(touchPin);


  if (buttonState == LOW) // Check to see if buttonState is LOW (pressed) 
  {
    digitalWrite(buttonLED,HIGH); // If buttonState is LOW (pressed), turn on the LED
  }
  else
  {
    digitalWrite(buttonLED, LOW); // If buttonState is HIGH (unpressed), turn off the LED
  }

  if (touchState == LOW) // Check to see if buttonState is LOW (pressed) 
  {
    playTone();
  }
  else
  {
    noTone(buzzer);
  }
}

void playTone(){

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_C5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_D5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_E5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_F5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_G5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_A5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_B5);
  delay(tempo);

  tone(buzzer,NOTE_C6);
  delay(tempo);


  noTone(buzzer);
  delay(tempo * 4);
}