Halloween tech roundup: electronic costumes

When competing for the best Halloween costume of the year, makers have the advantage of being able to mesh their knowledge of electronics with the arts and crafts nature of homemade decor; it’s amazing what a microcontroller and a few LEDs can do to make you stand out. So, without further ado, here are five of the most intriguing electronic costumes we came across this year:

Aladdin and his magic carpet

A dressed up Aladdin made his way around the streets of Manhattan on what looked like a real-life magic carpet. Designed by Casey Neistat, the magic carpet is a remote-controlled skateboard that looks like it is actually levitating. A behind-the-scenes of the DIY device can be found here. Aside from the gliding magic carpet, another tech twist to Neistat’s project is that the entire thing was documented through a drone.

Light up Elsa

Last year, a little girl named Zoey wore an LED stick figure costume in the shape of Minnie Mouse. This year, she wanted to be glowing Elsa from Frozen. Designer Royce Hutain explains that he used an existing dress and 250 LEDs controlled by a Teensy 3.1 microcontroller and powered by two 13000mah 5v powerbanks (which is used to charge cellphones).

Wasp from the Ant-Man movie with electronic wings

Using a Teensy 2.0 microcontroller, an RF receiver, 3D-printed servo mount, lithium-polymer batteries, and flat circuit board, Erin from Adafruit designed electronic wings for her Wasp costume that resembled the character from the Ant-Man movie. The wings move in a circular motion and open in 2.5 seconds and close in 2 seconds. A full breakdown of how she made the wings can be found here.

Wizard with magic wand flashlight

A mother made a magic wand flashlight to go along with her son’s wizard costume using a reed switch she built into the handle. She began by taking apart a standard flashlight, removing the LED, and marking its polarity. By cutting and stripping the wires of the reed switch and connecting it to one of the batteries, she was able to construct a perfectly lit-up wand for her son. Full detailed instructions can be found here.

Sources: Adafruit, Mashable, and Makezine