High-tech practical joke advice - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Enigma5656 · 04-09-2004, 08:34 AM

Hey all! I had a great idea for a prank i'd like to pull on my roommate, but have no idea on where to start. Let me first give you some background:

At my work we have this very old life size austin powers standing cardboard cutout movie promotion. A little box in the back has a small motion sensor poking through. Every time someone passes by it will play a random recording like "yeah baby!" or "oh behave!"

Anyways, I would like to create something like this and hide it somewhere in my roommate's room, but put the trigger for it in somewhere like the kitchen, so it will go off whenever he's not in the room. Our apartment is small enough that he whould still hear it from the kitchen and i know it would drive him nuts trying to figure out what the hell it is and where its coming from!

Anyways, my question is how would i begin building something like this? Is it just a matter of gathering up the right parts down at radioshack, or is it a bit more involved than this? If possible i'd like the motion sensor to have a wireless signal going to the actual speaker-box thing in his room. If this is too complicated i could just run a wire under the carpet into the kitchen. I have some experience with building circuitry and wiring, so thats not a problem. Any help would be appreciated!

Scorpion23 · 04-10-2004, 03:13 PM

If you go to radio shack they have a voice chip on clearance for $3, down from $20. It holds 20 sec. of whatever you want and plays it back whenever triggered. It's just the chip itself, but you said you had experience with electronics so it shouldn't be too hard.

It'd be pretty involved to make it wireless, so I'd just go with a signal wire. As far as the sensor goes you can build one with IR diodes that can detect movement in front of them. There are plenty of simple schematics out on the net that can instruct you in their construction.

I'm out of town at the moment, but I can try and post something when I get back to my apartment.

Enigma5656 · 04-10-2004, 09:55 PM

Great! any further help would always be welcome!

nosuchuserexist · 04-13-2004, 03:00 PM

let us know how this turns out...sounds funny! Wish I could be of some help...

jujueye · 04-15-2004, 11:28 AM

Well, sounds like fun. I'm in!
Running a wire under the carpet means, though, that you will probably have to run the wire up a wall or around a corner or something. This would certainly give him the chance to spot the problem and get back at you in a hurry. I think the easiest technique would be to buy a basic wireless device, then hack it to do what you want it to. Maybe there's a wireless car starter kit. This would be an easy job of desoldering the actual remote switch and replacing it with the IR. Check the power requirements for it...hopefully you can power it with the battery that is in the remote.

Another easier task might be to not use any remote, and instead build a small timer that would go off after a very random amount of time. Maybe anywhere from 15 to 34 minutes or something. Then hid that under a piece of furniture, behind a picture, under his bed. If the "oh behave" was short enough, it would take hours to find it because it takes the brain at least a second or more to determine where sounds are coming from.

Finally, maybe skip the whole IR thing and use the remote yourself. That way you can be there when he gets a funny look on his face and say, "didja hear that?"

Have fun!

jujueye · 04-27-2004, 08:48 PM

Well???

It's been almost two weeks, now. How's the project going?

iamnormal · 05-05-2004, 10:13 PM

Search the net for Electronic Cricket.
It chirps when the lights are off. Cut on lights to look for it and it stops.

04-09-2004, 08:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
Enigma5656 Upright	Making a motion-sensor trigger Hey all! I had a great idea for a prank i'd like to pull on my roommate, but have no idea on where to start. Let me first give you some background: At my work we have this very old life size austin powers standing cardboard cutout movie promotion. A little box in the back has a small motion sensor poking through. Every time someone passes by it will play a random recording like "yeah baby!" or "oh behave!" Anyways, I would like to create something like this and hide it somewhere in my roommate's room, but put the trigger for it in somewhere like the kitchen, so it will go off whenever he's not in the room. Our apartment is small enough that he whould still hear it from the kitchen and i know it would drive him nuts trying to figure out what the hell it is and where its coming from! Anyways, my question is how would i begin building something like this? Is it just a matter of gathering up the right parts down at radioshack, or is it a bit more involved than this? If possible i'd like the motion sensor to have a wireless signal going to the actual speaker-box thing in his room. If this is too complicated i could just run a wire under the carpet into the kitchen. I have some experience with building circuitry and wiring, so thats not a problem. Any help would be appreciated! Last edited by Enigma5656; 04-09-2004 at 02:28 PM..

04-10-2004, 03:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
Scorpion23 Psycho	If you go to radio shack they have a voice chip on clearance for $3, down from $20. It holds 20 sec. of whatever you want and plays it back whenever triggered. It's just the chip itself, but you said you had experience with electronics so it shouldn't be too hard. It'd be pretty involved to make it wireless, so I'd just go with a signal wire. As far as the sensor goes you can build one with IR diodes that can detect movement in front of them. There are plenty of simple schematics out on the net that can instruct you in their construction. I'm out of town at the moment, but I can try and post something when I get back to my apartment. __________________ "Empirically observed covariation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for causality" - Edward Tufte

04-13-2004, 03:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
nosuchuserexist Crazy Location: Obliviousness	let us know how this turns out...sounds funny! Wish I could be of some help... __________________ "I run good but I'm hard to start. And my brakes are bad so I'm hard to stop." -Mark Sandman - Vocalist, Morphine

04-10-2004, 09:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
Enigma5656 Upright	Great! any further help would always be welcome!

04-15-2004, 11:28 AM	#5 (permalink)
jujueye alpaca lunch for the trip Location: in my computer	Well, sounds like fun. I'm in! Running a wire under the carpet means, though, that you will probably have to run the wire up a wall or around a corner or something. This would certainly give him the chance to spot the problem and get back at you in a hurry. I think the easiest technique would be to buy a basic wireless device, then hack it to do what you want it to. Maybe there's a wireless car starter kit. This would be an easy job of desoldering the actual remote switch and replacing it with the IR. Check the power requirements for it...hopefully you can power it with the battery that is in the remote. Another easier task might be to not use any remote, and instead build a small timer that would go off after a very random amount of time. Maybe anywhere from 15 to 34 minutes or something. Then hid that under a piece of furniture, behind a picture, under his bed. If the "oh behave" was short enough, it would take hours to find it because it takes the brain at least a second or more to determine where sounds are coming from. Finally, maybe skip the whole IR thing and use the remote yourself. That way you can be there when he gets a funny look on his face and say, "didja hear that?" Have fun!

04-27-2004, 08:48 PM	#6 (permalink)
jujueye alpaca lunch for the trip Location: in my computer	Well??? It's been almost two weeks, now. How's the project going?

05-05-2004, 10:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
iamnormal Addict Location: In the id	Search the net for Electronic Cricket. It chirps when the lights are off. Cut on lights to look for it and it stops.