Gigantic pumpkin dispenses candy at the push of a button

from arduino.cc

YouTuber Brankly is going to be giving out candy in style this Halloween. Or, more accurately, his automated pumpkin system is going to take care of the task for him.

His large fake jack-o’-lantern sits atop a hilariously smaller skeleton body, and hides inside a servo-driven turntable dispensing mechanism. As it rotates, treats are pushed out of a tongue-like slide mechanism, where it’s detected by two infrared sensors. This detection stops (and reverses) the dispensing plate, while the bowl in front illuminates.

Sounds and lighting are recycled from the modified bowl and pumpkin assembly, and LEDs under control of an Arduino Nano are added to a large button box that starts the cycle. Another Nano runs the rest of the setup, along with a stepper driver board and voltage regulator on a custom PCB.

More build specifics can be found on GitHub.

If you're interested in making your own version, PMD Way has you covered with a huge range of parts including Arduino nano-compatible boards, motor shields for Arduino, robotics parts, jumper wires and more.