The Future of Halloween

I have been thinking about putting this blog together for a couple weeks now so we are ahead of just starting.  I am still going to try to lay out the posts in milestones so check back often.

 If you know me, you know that my family loves Halloween. If you don't know me then you are in for a treat of random information about a stranger, enjoy. Halloween is a time not only for parties and costumes but also ingenuity. Adam and I always like coming up with new props to build and new ways to interact with them. We love to see the house come together and become a terrifying gauntlet small children must run before being awarded with cheap candy. This year will be no exception! However, the new inventions this year will be behind the scenes. Let me introduce you to ... the future of Halloween:

This is a Netduino Plus micro-controller. It is basically a small computer capable of sending signals off the hardware like lights, motors, ect. The plus version can even connect to the internet and receive commands over IP. Exciting right?

In the past, we have relied on physically letting air into pistons or switching things on and off at the local power supply. That approach led to this:

A large command center, near a window where everyone had to huddle in to take part in the frightening of small children.

Adam and I have taken up the challenge this year to reduce this command center down to this:

That's right! The goal this year will be to put Halloween on an android app and run Halloween from a wireless device. I hope to share the journey from concept to design for those who would like to follow along. I hope you enjoy it!