Justin Flory took a tour of projects at the Rochester Mini Maker Faire and took note of the Spy Pi project by Taylor Bowling. A simple motion-sensor (PIR) picture taking device, it cleverly hides LEDs inside the head of a Jawa (or anywhere where two LEDs make sense) – so you probably see the picture frame, then acknowledge it, laughing, all the while a camera embedded in the picture frame attached to a Pi is taking your picture 😉

Python code for a security themed picture frame, which uses a PIR motion sensor to activate LED lights and a camera to take a photo when motion is detected.

The SpyPi.py file is the intended mode for the project. With this code, the motion sensor will trigger two LEDs, the eyes of the portrait, to fire, followed by the capturing and storing of the photo. The SpyPi_DisplayMode, however, removes the motion sensor entirely. With this code, a time can be specified to show just the camera feed and LED lights, which is good for showing off the project on a monitor.

Read more here and see the GitHub repo here.