Fall has finally arrived, and as a massive fan of both horror films and games, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. We’ve all seen electronic takes on fun designs, but the dancing skeleton is perhaps one of the most iconic, right alongside the cackling witches screeching bats that hang from front doors.
Billy Bones is a kit that “dances” and laughs when exposed to light. It comes as a single PCB with mouse bits connecting the separate parts. Using jump rings, you can connect the limbs to the torso for ghoulish dance moves you can see in the video below.
The magic that makes it dance is thanks to an off-center weight on a DC motor. A laugh track stored on the PIC 12F1840 microcontroller plays back at varying speeds when the LDR sensor is triggered.
A pair of glowing eyes and the simple requirement of two AAA batteries rounds out this fun and spooky Halloween decoration.
