Animatronic Pumpkin

I created a pumpkin with eight individual moving eyes. It is easy to make and only requires an Arduino and servo controller to control it. I also added lights but those aren't necessary.

For this process, you will need a drill, pencils, a fake pumpkin (you can use a real one but this way you don't have to replace it), PVC or 3d printer, fake eyeballs, Arduino, eight servos, and a power supply.

For this step you will want to get a large drill bit and then mark out your holes on your pumpkin. Carefully drill through and widen the holes. You can size them based on the 3d printed piece.

For this step simply go to https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4670761 to find the file to 3d print the eye socket. You can also use some large PVC pieces for the eye socket if you don't have a 3d printer.

For this step, you simply need to drill a hole through the side of your plastic eye. Then slot a wire through the hole. Next put the eye into the socket. Glue the wire in place finally take a short piece of dowel or pencil and glue it to the back of the eye. Next, glue a servo to the side of the socket and attach a wire to both the servo and the pencil. It is highly recommended to watch the tutorial video.

Insert all of the eyes through the holes in the pumpkin. Glue them in place and make sure the servos still work. You may have to touch up the paint job on the pumpkin.

The Arduino setup is fairly simple and the diagrams above are self-explanatory. The servos themselves plug into the first eight ports on the Arduino. You can find the code at https://github.com/pythoncader/ServoPumpkin/

If additional help is needed there are more visual guides in the tutorial video.

I created more patterns and movements! You can find all the code for those here: https://github.com/pythoncader/ServoPumpkin/

I added RGB and smoke for a cool combination. Now you can impress your neighbors with your awesome project!