ThermalCam with Arduino, XBee and Processing

ThermalCam with MLX90614, Arduino UNO, XBee Series 2 and prototyping shield

A project I'm working on for some weeks now is a cheap ThermalCam based on the Melexis MLX90614 IR sensitive thermopile detector chip (more on the chip from Melexis: MLX90614 )

There are lots of people out there, who already built a working version with this $35 device, but most of them use a wired connection and a Java graphical user interface (GUI).

I wanted to get the thing wireless and also to build my own GUI where I may customize some things that I miss with the Java-version. I chose a XBee Series 2 configured as a Router AT with 57600 baud and Processing for the GUI. I'm already done with the data transmission part. I can control the ThermalCam with some buttons in the Processing sketch and get the data out of the chip but it still lacks a nice GUI and a webcam overlay.

This awesome project was first developed by two german pupils Markus Kohl/  Max Ritter for "Jugend forscht 2010" (german science competition for pupils). Well done!

I already made some thermal images with the Java program and here are some examples.

Sitting at the desk, waving my hand. Background dark blue: windows, right orange square: tft screen

Raspberry Pi with voltage regulator (left bottom), main chip (middle) and ethernet chip (right)

Laptop laying flat on the ground, upper half display, lower half keyboard/ mainboard

Project XSkull

Halloween. Early darkness in fall. Pumpkins everywhere. Little kids in fancy costumes demanding candies.

XSkull with glowing eyes and moving jaw

So why not greeting them appropiate with an Arduino-based project combining a skull with red glowing and fading eyes and moving jaw which is servo operated and XBee-remote controlled. Haze in the dark from a fog machine which is radio controlled and triggered via XBee. Where the status of the heating-up process is reported back to the remote control where an illuminated switch is lit when the fog machine is ready? Where another switch can control a light or sound source?

That's what I will present in the next weeks until Halloween. Hardware, Arduino-Sketches and XBee configuration will be explained. For the beginning here are some photos. Have fun!

Remote control

 The remote control consists of an enclosure where an Arduino nano and a XBee are the main parts. With a sliding potentiometer you are remote controlling the moving of the skull-jaw. The red momentary switch shows the status of the heating-up process of the fog machine and signals it with the internal LED. If you push the switch fog will evaporate. Everything is driven by a 9 volt battery and the circuit can be activated by a rocker switch. One additional illuminated green switch can control another source like light or sound and signal an additional status to the remote control.

Fog machine

A servo which is connected to an Arduino Uno in the brain of the skull controls the momentary switch on the fog machine so that there is no need to work with high voltage. The light of the bulb which signalizes the heating process of the fog machine is analyzed by a light dependent resistor (LDR) which reports the resistance to the Arduino Uno which then sends the value via XBee to the remote control and lights the LED on the red fog switch when the fog machine is ready.