• Playing with the prototype

    Matthew Gorr • 08/18/2017 at 21:40 • 0 comments

    it was too dark in the box so added NodeMCU to take car of cheerlights to light the scene

  • Ready For Prototype Assembly

    Matthew Gorr • 08/18/2017 at 20:17 • 0 comments

    The @CheerlightsCat twitter account has privately been tweeting erratically the past few days while testing the software and control mechanisms. Now it is time to assemble the first prototype.

    The main components include a Pi Zero, Pi Camera Module, WiFi dongle, PIR sensor.  I had imagined a hanging rope toy with a vibration sensor, but I was having trouble getting the gpiozero python library to respond to the switch. So now I present, a motion sensor in a box. Cindel the Cheerlights Cat loves this box. 

    I traced a hole using the inside of a roll of scotch tape, made sure to stay inside the line while cutting, and then pushed the PIR dome into the hole to make a perfect fit.

  • Introduction

    Matthew Gorr • 08/17/2017 at 15:03 • 0 comments

    Imagine a physical button that tweets a new Cheerlights color every time you push it.

    That's the inspiration for this project, except the button has been done before, so I need to extend it. 

    How about a button that a cat could push?

    How can you quickly convince a cat to push a button?

    Good point. How about a toy, like a hanging rope, that tweets when the cat plays with it?

    I have a raspberry pi and a vibration sensor lying around here somewhere, I think that could work!

    If it's a Raspberry Pi, you might as well take a picture of the cat playing and tweet that as well.

    Okay fine, let's get started!