Follow Me Christmas Tree

Follow Me Christmas Tree follows a human passing by (within about 12 feet). An Arduino Uno and Adafruit 8x8 thermal camera are the primary components used to make this happen.

3d printed parts include mount for servo and mount for thermal sensor (you could use long screws and a small block of wood to work around these parts)

Arduino Uno

AMG 8833 8x8 thermal camera module

FT5335M giant servo (you could use a lazy susan bearing and an ordinary servo motor)

Metal horn for giant servo

6 volt dc 3 amp power supply (for servo motor)

9 volt dc 200 ma power supply (for arduino)

(3) led

(3) 220 ohm resistor

2' x 4' 1/4" plywood

Misc. 3mm screws

(2) spring--8.7mm x 46mm

4' Christmas tree

(2) 1 1/4" google eyes

Felt (for nose and mouth)

Poster putty

Tree decorations

Duct tape

Misc: wire, solder, tape

Cut two 16" x 16" squares of 1/4" plywood. Mark the center of the plywood and drill holes for the servo horn. Drill 1/8" holes in the servo horn. Attach the servo horn to the plywood. 3d print two large servo mounts and one sensor mount.

Attach the giant servo (with shaft at the center of the second sheet of plywood). Attach springs (two in series) to plywood. The springs are needed to keep tension on the rotating piece of plywood. Without tension, the servo motor tends to "overshoot" the desired location, then overcorrect--oscillate madly.

Wire according to the schematic. The three led's are not required, just useful in helping to see that the sensor is accurately detecting a human. Go to my thermal instructable for more details about how the thermal sensor works. Load the "follow me christma tree" sketch into the Arduino.

Attach the sensor to the top piece of plywood. Secure the servo horn to the servo motor.

Decorate to suit. I used poster putty to secure google eyes to ornaments, ornaments to tree limbs and mouth/nose to tree limbs. Secure the tree to the upper piece of plywood (I used duct tape).

Enjoy!