Meet the ITP Voo Doo Doll, a creation inspired for the Physical Computingignment – the Stupid Pet Trick. That’s right, my professor, Tom Igoe, wanted us to demonstrate our knowledge via a gimmicky blinky, bleepy schtick. Thus the name, Stupid Pet Trick.

Physical Computing: ITP Voo Doo Doll in Action from cindy wong on Vimeo.

Since ITP is throwing a Halloween Haunted House, I decided to stick (pun intended) to the gothic theme. Right now, I’m nicknaming my ITP Voo Doo Doll, Mr. Arduino. During these stressful weeks of grad school, it’s been a  very therapeutic toy shall we say. Stab, stab, stab.

What’s it made of?

Black felt, steel wool, insulation padding, 22-gauge wires, 2 alligator clips.

How does it work?

Stick a needle in the Voo Doo Doll and it starts blinking and sounding off crazy beeps. Sensor-wise: I turned the doll into the sensor itself. Inside is two pads of steel wool wrapped in insulation. Clipped to them are alligator clips wired back to the breadboard. The action of stabbing the doll with a metal needle acts as a conduit to turning the switch (doll) ON, completing the electrical circuit.

Here’s my initial test video where I’m making sure the concept works.

ITP Voo Doo Doll from cindy wong on Vimeo.

Code?

At this moment, I don’t have my Arduino code available since my computer crashed shortly after I finished the project (eerie, right?). When I recover my hard drive, I’ll see if I can get it out on to this blog.

At the moment, here’s a setup of my breadboard.