Introduction
Stop using weak, organic, pumpkins for your Halloween decorations! Instead create a cold, robotic pumpkin that will never let you down.
This project creates a simple Larson Scanner out of four LEDs. The Larson Scanner effect was seen in such classic TV shows as Battlestar Galactica and Knight Ridder. Since we don't have a talking car we're putting our scanner into a pumpkin body made out of LEGOs.
Video Overview
Featured Document
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Use an 8x16 sized base plate as your build platform.
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We used a wide variety of orange and black pieces.
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The most important are some 1x2 or 1x4 sized clear bricks for the "eyes."
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The second most important brick is a right angle brick, so we can stick our LEDs on vertically.
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Build your Pumpkin.
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Notice how we use 2 wide bricks on the bottom half, and 1 wide bricks on the upper half.
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Use a right angle LEGO piece and a 2x8 plate to create the LED holder.
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Use standard bricks to build the tower that holds everything.
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Stick your tower to the base plate.
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Stick on the LEDs and Robotics Board.
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Connect the Grounds between each of the LEDs.
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Run a long line of tape from the far left LED to Pin 2 on the Robotics Board.
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Run a line of tape from the 2nd LED back around the LED holder.
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Connect to Pin 3 on the Robotics Board.
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Do the same thing with the 3rd and 4th LEDs.
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They connect to Pins 4 and 5 on the Robotics Board.
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Run a long line of tape from your 4th LED to the Ground hole on your Robotics Board.
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Put on the LEDs when finished.
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Pop on the Robotics Board.
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Double check your connections to make sure you're using Pin 2-5, and that you're also hooked up to Ground.
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Open up the Arduino software and open up a new project window. Copy and Paste this code into the project window.
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Upload the code.
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Once the code is uploaded it will run every time it is powered on.
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Use a USB wall adaptor to power it independently from a computer.
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Attached Documents
