Cujo the turtle loves to dance. She also likes to sleep. What if we want to know when she does each of her activities? With a passing-by visual observation, it’s not always obvious. What if we could track her movement day and night and see for ourselves? Now, what if we could do all of that without writing a single line of code? We can with WipperSnapper!

Using an Adafruit Funhouse and a PIR motion sensor, we’ll track the movement of Cujo the turtle. Then we’ll analyze and visualize the data we’ve gathered to try and make sense of the results!

Wanna see what times of the day Cujo moved the most over the course of a week? Spoiler alert! The results are below.

No turtles were harmed in the making of this guide. Additionally, Cujo gets ample time out of her habitat to play around in the apartment :)

Prerequisite Guide:

WipperSnapper is an interface for Adafruit IO, our incredibly easy-to-use IoT platform, designed to turn any WiFi-capable board into an IoT device without programming a single line of code.

If you've never used WipperSnapper, click below to read through the Quickstart WipperSnapper guide before continuing.

Project materials

Adafruit products:

Top-down video of Adafruit Funhouse PCB. The TFT display shows a data readout, and the NeoPixel LEDs glow rainbow colors.
Home is where the heart is...it's also where we keep all our electronic bits. So why not wire it up with sensors and actuators to turn our house into an electronic wonderland....
$34.95
In Stock
Topdown video of 3-pin PIR sensor assembled onto a breadboard. A hand passes over the sensor, and a blue LED to light up.
PIR sensors are used to detect motion from pets/humanoids from about 5 meters away (possibly works on zombies, not guaranteed). This sensor is much smaller than most PIR modules, which...
$3.95
In Stock
USB Type A to Type C Cable - approx 1 meter / 3 ft long
As technology changes and adapts, so does Adafruit. This  USB Type A to Type C cable will help you with the transition to USB C, even if you're still...
$4.95
In Stock
5V 2A Switching Power Supply with  USB-A Connector
Our 5V 2A USB power adapter is the perfect choice for powering single-board computers like Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, or anything else that's power-hungry!This adapter was...
Out of Stock
Angled shot of Premium Female/Male 'Extension' Jumper Wires - 20 x 3
These Female/Male 'extension' jumper wires for making wire harnesses or jumpering between headers on PCB's. These premium jumper wires are 3" (75mm) long and come...
$1.95
In Stock

Other materials:

  • Wooden skewers (found at the dollar store)
  • Tape

This guide was first published on Oct 12, 2021. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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