They created a smart smoke machine with Raspberry Pi

smart smoke machine

Smoke machines are one of those artifacts for those who devote themselves to causes Video and photography They can give it a lot of play. For example, in photos, you can use it to create a fog effect if you take it to the middle of the forest. Or use it in video to record a video clip and achieve a more attractive atmosphere if combined with the right lighting.

However, the uses that could be more varied and one of those that might interest you is to create an even scarier scenario now that Halloween is approaching. Of course, releasing smoke all the time isn’t ideal, and having to do it manually isn’t practical. Solve? Automation.

Thanks to the use of a Raspberry pie They succeeded in creating a smart smoke machine. What we say is smart because thanks to the use of the camera module, it can detect if there are people around it or not. This way, it only expels smoke when it is there.

Smart Device Creation Requirements

As you can imagine if you already have experience doing this projects Diverse with the Raspberry Pi, the requirements are really nothing to write home about. It is enough to have the machine in question and then some other components that allowed to give shape to the idea.

This time, the following is required:

• remote control smoke machine
• Raspberry Pi 4
• Raspberry Pi compatible camera module
• A relay to control the electrical circuit, thus activating or not expelling smoke

Ready, that plus some cables and a soldering iron, we’ll have everything we need. Because the goal is to create a mechanism that allows you to activate the remote control as if you were pressing the remote control itself with your fingers.

Smoke ejection automation

As mentioned, the process that allows the conversion of a traditional smoke machine into Clever It’s very simple. It’s true that a bit of electronics and soldering is necessary, as well as some programming knowledge to create the automation itself, but by following the posted tutorial it’s easy for any user with a little patience.

The process mainly consists of connecting the remote control to the Raspberry Pi 4 using a pair of cables and relay, so it will be possible to control which switch must be pressed to expel smoke.

Once that’s done, the next step is to connect the camera to the Raspberry Pi and configure everything so that when the camera detects someone is there, the device is activated. This whole process with your The relevant commands are available here.

Now you know, how you can take advantage of this smart fog or smoke machine will be up to you. If you want to be in for Halloween, either hurry up or sign up for next year. Although we are already telling you that there are many ways to take advantage of these special accessories.