Arduino lamp changes color with the weather

Recently featured on FastCoDesign, The Patch of Sky Arduino lamp is designed to change colors along with shifting weather patterns.

According to Dan Nosowitz of FastCoDesign, the lamp was developed by Leonardo Amico, Federico Floriani, Reda Jouari, Alice Longo, Akshataa Vishwanath and Giorgia Zanellato at the Italian research studio Fabric.

Essentially, the Patch of Sky lamp assumes three forms, with each consisting of a circular or semi-circular mirror, along with a sturdy, narrow bar.

“The narrow bar and the border of the round display are both patterned like the night sky, but it’s the mirror that makes the lamp special,” Nosowitz explained.

“Powered by an [Atmel-based] Arduino board (the inexpensive open-source micro controller board) and connected to the Internet, Patch of Sky uses your Facebook location to figure out where you are and then matches up the current weather, in real time, to your lamp.”

As Nosowitz notes, any of 11 potential weather scenarios – including snow, fog, sun, drizzle and heat – animate the mirror with a gently pulsing gradient color.

Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official page here.