The Arduino Mousecatcher is a quick project I put together to learn some of the
basics of working with Arduino, and to assist in the relocation of a little gray
rodent I've seen darting around the baseboard in my bedroom.
It was built only with an Arduino, a servo, and miscellaneous things I had laying
around. The main body of the trap is made from two plastic Tupperware type containers.
When the mouse enters the lower container to scope out the cheese and breadsticks
I have in there, a small tripwire signals the Arduino to activate the servo. The
servo has a string attached to it, which pulls a pin and allows the weighted upper
plastic container to drop, effectively sealing the little invader and allowing me
to humanely deposit it outside.
The trip wire is made from a flat piece of tin and a piece of small-gauge wire.
The wire hovers over the tin by a fraction of an inch, and the slightest pressure
forces it down to make a connection. It's really just a super-sensitive homemade
switch.
The code is pretty simple; really not much more than an adaption of the Servo code
that can be found in the Arduino examples.
Arduino Mousecatcher source
I've got the trap situated in the corner I've seen the mouse poking around... now
it's just a matter of time.