Milestone Project 1: Stupid Pet Trick

Over the past two weeks, I have been working towards creating a 'stupid pet trick' using relays to control a household electronic device. I chose to use a fan as the manipulated item because fans interact with the viewer both through motion and the creation of wind. When I heard the name of the project I immediately thought of optical illusions, as for the most part, they are just a 'stupid' visual trick. I had a collection of spinning optical illusions (meant for a spinning top) and I chose the best one and put it inside the fan. It became even more silly when I added a rainbow 'wig' and stem to the fan. I am using an ultrasonic sensor to turn on the fan, and after two seconds it turns back off. A light is on the other side of the motor relay, so the light can turn back on as the fan is slowing down, which is when the illusion looks the best.

Here is a photo of my stupid pet trick:

Here is a video of my stupid pet trick:

Here are two photos of the circuit:

Here is the code I used:

#include <EasyUltrasonic.h> #define TRIGPIN 5 #define ECHOPIN 6 float cmMapped; float distanceCM; float follower; EasyUltrasonic ultrasonic; // Create the ultrasonic object void setup() { // put your setup code here, to run once: Serial.begin(9600); // Open the serial port pinMode(10,OUTPUT); ultrasonic.attach(TRIGPIN, ECHOPIN); // Attaches the ultrasonic sensor on the specified pins on the ultrasonic object } void loop() { // put your main code here, to run repeatedly: // analogWrite(10,0); distanceCM = ultrasonic.getDistanceCM(); // Read the distance in centimeters // Serial.println(distanceCM); if (distanceCM < 50 && distanceCM > 0) { cmMapped = distanceCM; } //3.5 to 42 // follower += (cmMapped - follower) * 0.05; //analogWrite(10, cmMapped); if (cmMapped < 20) { Serial.println("FAN IS ON"); digitalWrite(10, HIGH); delay(2000); digitalWrite(10, LOW); } else { digitalWrite(10, LOW); } // float distanceIN = ultrasonic.getDistanceIN(); // Uncomment if you want to get the distance in inches // Print the distance value in Serial Monitor Serial.println(cmMapped); // Serial.print(" "); // Serial.println(follower); //delay(5000); }

If this placed in a gallery I think the illlusion would be best on a larger scale. It could be in a similar sized fan, just a bigger spinner inside. I would also want the fan cover to be a clear cover instead. The spotlight could remain the same, but the surrounding room would be much darker. The audience would walk up to the fan and wait for the optical illusion to begin.

It was a challenge to get the ultrasonic sensor code working because I was having trouble figuring out what exactly wasn't working when my readings were off. After help in-class I had a better understanding of how the code worked and had no issues adjusting it to work in the different lighting of my house. I'm glad Arduino code is beginning to make more sense to me, and look forward to working on it more next week.