It Breathes

I've continued work on the Deep Listening Device, which is now able to breathe with a set of bellows that I've constructed out of millboard and a wind-resistant fleece.


I constructed a motor-driven reel at the bottom of the device to pull the ropes through a pulley system which raises the bellows.


The motor currently installed in the device is not powerful enough to reel up the bellows, so I will need to find another suitable motor. In the meantime, the pulley system works well when the rope is pulled by hand.

I installed one solenoid to pull one of the accordion valves open to show how it can be controlled. The solenoid plunger is attached to the valve through a throttle cable, which seems to work well.





I have the solenoid attached to a BEAM head robot circuit, which activates the solenoid when the circuit reads a difference in light levels between its two light sensors.



Here is a video of the device in action:


The squealing heard in the video is caused by one of the support wheels. It adds nicely to the evil/creepy atmosphere of the device.