Prototype Motion Sensor from Photocell

This is a quick project I threw together after washing dishes this weekend. I brought my computer into the kitchen to play music while I worked. Unfortunately, there was a flaw with my plan; I hadn't thought about what I would do when I wanted to switch to another song. WIth my hands wet and soapy, I couldn't use the keyboard or trackpad. I realized I could whip up a quick solution with my Arduino.

Step 1 The Original Plan: PIR Sensor

I needed some way to interact with my computer without physically touching it. My first thought was to use a Passive Infrared (PIR) motion sensor. After all they're designed to detect motion. I could just wave my hand and cause the Arduino to do my bidding. Unfortunately, my PIR sensor wasn't in a cooperative mood. Nothing I did, software or hardware, could make the sensor consistently respond to my hand waves. I also ran into the reset limitation of the sensor. The PIR sensor takes an infrared snapshot of the environment and compares it to later snapshots. When there's a change in the environment, the sensor picks it up. After the motion, the sensor has a short reset period where the sensor takes another comparison snapshot. During that reset time, the sensor is unresponsive. It's not a huge issue, but it was another problem with the sensor.

Comments

[wunderdog317]

where is the code i actually want to use this