In the Super Bowl spirit, Maker Bill Tracy recently created a nifty little cap for the big game celebration.
Sure, millions of fans will adorn their bodies with the typical Patriots or Seahawks t-shirts, jackets and jerseys tomorrow, but what if you could throw a blinking LED hat into the championship get-up mix?
“Have you ever noticed that almost all baseball caps are ready-made for inserting LEDs? Why don’t cap manufacturers just go ahead and insert 3mm LEDs into the six threaded grommet holes in the top of the hat? After all, besides the LED ports, each cap also comes equipped with six seams to serve as insulated conduits for running wire or conductive thread,” the Maker conjectures. Moreover, the 1-inch head band running around the inside base of the cap provides a perfect slot for hiding a button battery and associated circuitry.”
With the game quickly approaching, Tracy decided to mod an old hat with a set of six clear LED lights that the manufacturers evidently forgot to install. Depending on whether you’re a Pats or Hawks fan, we’d assume you would probably want to use either green, blue or red LEDs opposed to the yellow embedded in his prototype.
The project was brought to life using a LilyTiny chip (ATtiny85) along with some conductive thread, a sewable on/off switch, a little wiring and a 3V button battery. What’s more, there was no programming required for this keep-it-simple introductory electronic wearables project. However, advanced Makers can reprogram the tinyAVR MCU to customize their hat’s blinking functions.
What better way to ring in the holidays than by transforming your living room into a dance party? With the L3D Cube, now you can. Developed by the Looking Glass Factory crew, the 3D fixture is a true DIY kit allowing Makers to create their own “volumetric” display in just 30 minutes. After constructing the easy-to-assemble box, users can download a number of visualization apps to it or program it themselves using either Arduino or Processing language.
The L3D comes in both 8 x 8 x 8 and 16 x 16 x 16 cubes comprised of 512 or 4,096 multi-color LEDs, respectively, which are all driven by an [Atmel based] Arduino unit (interchanged with a Spark Core). The vibrant lights then flash in such a way that they create 3D geometric patterns, ranging from squares and circles to waves and spirals.
As our friends at Hackaday note, using WS2812Bs means less I/O pins and no need for LED driver chips, which makes it ideal for Arduino and Spark boards.
The system is also wired to dance to tunes. In fact, each L3D Cube is equipped with a built-in microphone enabling music reactive applications. According to its team, the device can also be connected with various sensors — ranging from Kinect and LEAP motion to the ATmega32U4 based based Makey Makey — for an assortment of other stunning interactions.
As an entirely open-source project, new programs are constantly being created for new visualizations. Furthermore, L3D cubers can also communicate with one another, meaning Makers can actually devise programs that make new shapes that move and coordinate across L3D cubes.
“The L3D Cube is just the first step toward a ‘volumetric display revolution,’ where high-res 3D displays that allow for realistic images will be commonplace,” says Shawn Frayne, Looking Glass Factory President.
When it rains, it pours… well, at least here in California. As we brace for high winds and flash floods, we figured what better time to compile a list of some of the most innovative umbrellas to keep us dry. At the heart of Silicon Valley, it would only make sense that they’d be high-tech as well, right? While the invention of the umbrella dates back well over 3,000 years ago, it would appear that not a whole lot has changed in its basic design. That was until now…
The “Invisible” Umbrella
Instead of those awkward metal poles and canopies, a team of Chinese designers is relying on a “force field” of air to keep you nice and dry. The Air Umbrella recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign, garnering over $102,000.
The “Forecasting” Umbrella
What if your umbrella had a handle that would illuminate when snow or rain was in the forecast? Never forget to grab it on your way out the door again thanks to the Ambient Forecasting Umbrella! The enchanted accessory works by tuning in to AccuWeather.com to predict the weather in your area, and if there happens to be 100% chance of precipitation, it will pulse nearly 100 times.
High-end umbrella maker Blunt recently teamed up with Bluetooth-tracker specialists Tile to create what the company calls, the first smart umbrella. Thanks to what may very well be the first location-aware ‘brella, if lost, all you need to do whip out your iPhone and launch the Tile app to track it down. As you close in on its whereabouts, the umbrella will play a tune so you can find with both your eyes and ears!
The “Web Browsing” Umbrella
What if you could snap a pic, capture a video, or browse the Internet using just your umbrella? That’s what Makers Sho Hashimoto, Shingo Iwata, and Takashi Matsumoto aspired to bring to reality with the Pileus. Described by its creators as a connected umbrella to make “walking on rainy days fun,” the accessory is equipped with a large screen, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS and a digital compass.
The “Sensing” Umbrella
What if your umbrella could help protect the world from air pollution while it protected you from rain? Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design students Saurabh Datta, Akarsh Sanghi, and Simon Herzog recently debuted an umbrella capable of just that. Appropriately dubbed “Sensing Umbrella,” the ATmega32U4 based device has the ability to collect air pollution data during a nice stroll through the park or en route to work.
The “Gauging” Umbrella
Dutch researcher Rolf Hut has developed a way to transform ordinary umbrellas into mobile weather-monitoring stations using the sound of raindrops. By using an fitting an umbrella with an acoustic rain gauge, the prototype detects droplets falling on its canopy, and uses Bluetooth to relay this information via its smartphone app. As people walk around with umbrellas throughout a city during a storm, each app can transmit data to the “cloud” (pun intended) which meteorologists could use to devise more precise predictions.
The “Sharing” Umbrella
Have you ever been caught running your weekend errands as a sudden April shower crops up? Without warning, your clothes, new purchases and hair become soaked. Lucky for you, the Umbrella Here has arrived to solve all of these problems! The creators of the project — who recently completed a Kickstarter campaign — are looking to “bring strangers together” on these rainy days with a smart light that affixes to the top of your umbrella.
The “Glowing” FLORAbrella
Thanks to our friends at Adafruit, you can now bring along your own rainbow on a rainy day with this LED-embedded, FLORA (ATmega32U4) powered umbrella — aptly dubbed FLORAbrella.
The “Enlightening” Umbrella
Once upon a time, there were two who girls sincerely enjoyed strolls in the rain with their umbrellas. So much so that they decided the enjoyment of this experience could be maximized by creating their own pressure-activated web of LEDs to install under their umbrella. With the help of an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), some 4051 multiplexers, wires and soldering, the idea was brought to life light!
Remember as a kid being warned by your parents not to look directly at the sun? A perfect combination of caution and curiosity, Dmitry Morozov — more commonly known as ::vtol:: — recently unveiled his latest interactive installation called undlarman at the Polytech Museum in Moscow. The project, which was a collaboration with Julia Borovaya and Edward Rakhmanov, utilizes 64 ultra-bright LEDs, 12-channel sound system and eight-electrical nerve stimulation electrodes controlled by Arduino Mega (ATmega2560).
The exhibit features an 8 x 8 LED grid that flashes and flickers according to information from a satellite observing the sun.
“Data on power of X-radiation flux from the sun is received in real-time from the satellite GOES15 which is tracking solar activity. It is being converted into streams of sound, light and electric discharges, thus allowing a spectator to experience in more intensive and evident way the influence of the main luminary of the solar system,” Morozov writes.
“The data, which is measured in watts per square meter, come with a frequency of once per minute. A special computer algorithm transforms it in sound waves, distributed by 12 channels in the space. The radiation power directly controls the height of tones and spectral changes in the sound. The speed of sound displacement in the space is also dependent on these parameters. Light is generated by algorithmic transformation of X-ray emission into physical modeling of light particles, which also affect the muscle stimulators in the chair to produce weak electric discharges.”
Canadian photographer Stephen Orlando has introduced a new way to visualize action sports through the use of LED lights and an [Atmel based] Arduino.
The technique reveals beautiful light trails, which are not artificially created using applications like Photopshop, and represents the actual paths of familiar objects. Orlando’s long exposure photos turn repetitive, invisible motions seen in outdoor activities such as kayaking, canoeing, tennis, swimming and soccer into enchanted braids of light. Each sport requires the photographer to fine-tune his technique.
“Similar to streamlines of fluid flow, these images show pathlines of objects. In a single image, the viewer is able to compare different points in space and time,” Orlando tells Wired.
Orlando’s images use programmable strips of blinking LED lights that are capable of changing colors over time. A custom Arduino-based rig enables him to not only program the color and pattern of the LEDs, but accentuate the movements of whatever activity is being captured. In an exposure of 20 or 30 seconds, for instance, the kayak becomes invisible, yet the trail of light left behind as the kayakers paddle gets picked up and transformed into a vibrant light show.
Despite its revolutionary take on photography, Orlando notes that a number of traditional elements are just as imperative as well, including background, framing, and composition. “Without them, they would simply be lines without any context.”
The Waterloo-based photographer has spent a number of years analyzing and measuring fluid flow using various methods. Apparent by his impressive portfolio of work, the various images of neon light skipping across water or running across an open field are truly stunning.
“The shape of the light trails turned out to be what I was expecting. I did a lot of planning for these photos and I plotted out the expected path beforehand. The unexpected result was how visually appealing they are,” Orlando concludes.
This interactive installation by Maker Georgios Cherouvim features a real-life demonstration of a vocal debate between two characters. Instead of a productive dialogue promoting their ideas on a range of issues from voting and local government to war and taxes, the “politicians” share a constant yet indecipherable argument with one another, causing the viewers to lose interest in the conversation and politics all together.
As demonstrated in the video below, the scene isn’t too far off from your typical political debate, except for the obvious fact that the figures have giant, flashing, geometric heads and only converse through robotic beeps and bloops.
A rather noticeable dissimilarity between the installation and an actual politician debate is that the figures are actually plastic mannequins. Each character is an autonomous and independent unit, powered by a combination of custom electronics and a conversation-simulating program along with an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).
Aside from a series of RGB LED strips, the custom-built circuit board acts as an audio filter to detect a specific audio frequency, which is picked up by its built-in microphone while the tones are transmitted through the mannequin’s speakers.
The ongoing act is performed in non-deterministic fashion, with each spokesman waiting for a short moment of silence to once again resume speaking. Within a short period of time, the other unit has a chance to intervene. In the event both figures accidentally begin talking together, one stops. If one talks for way too long, the other starts talking as well and as no-one gives up, they talk on top of each other and turn red.
The AllPixel is a small, open-source board measuring just 2.7″ x 0.9” that provides easy USB control of all major programmable LED strips. It is compatible with Linux, Mac and Windows platforms, and can run on any device that supports Python, including Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black, or pretty much any desktop/laptop.
“Working with addressable LED strips, we’ve found that the extra components required to communicate with and power them complicate designs and limit the options for how they can be used. Each chipset requires its own special protocol and supporting hardware components. This is where the AllPixel comes in. Think of it as a video card for your LED strips,” its team writes.
At its core, the AllPixel isn’t much different from other boards like the Arduino Leonardo, Arduino Pro Micro, or even Teensy 2. That’s because at the heart of the open-source device is an ATmega32U4, which as its creators note, “allowed them to provide such amazing frame rates, since it is capable of full 12Mbps throughput on the USB Serial connection.
“It [the ATmega32U4] also provides 2.5KB of SRAM, 2K of which is used to buffer the pixel data. Not needing to waste SRAM on the serial buffer was also a huge advantage of using this chip over the venerable FTDI and something without built-in USB support.”
To achieve the speeds they desired, Maniacal Labs turned to Teensy Arduino cores and modded their own variant core. These newly-devised core libraries enabled them to run full USB speed on anything with an ATmega32U4, including their original Arduino Pro Micro mockup.
The AllPixel comes with an assortment of optional user-installed parts to allow for a variety of hook-up configurations, ranging from a 2.1mm DC barrel jack and a 4-pin 0.1” male header to a 1000uF capacitor and 1N5817 Schottky diode. With the 2.1mm barrel jack, an external power supply can be connected to provide up to 5 Amps to the attached LEDs. According to the team, AllPixel can even be configured to power LEDs directly from USB power for short runs.
In order to join and power multiple connected strips, the crew at Maniacal Labs developed the PowerTap, a small board with input and output terminal blocks and a 2.1mm DC barrel jack. They are offering this small board un-assembled, thereby allowing Makers to configure it as they see fit.
“We’ve been working for over a year on a Python animation library called BiblioPixel. Where the AllPixel takes the pain out of the hardware interface to your LED strips, BiblioPixel takes the pain out of controlling your LEDs and programming your animations,” a company rep shares.
Additionally, its companion FastLED library serves as the “universal translator” of the entire operation, which as the team points out, not only knows how to talk to all the different LED strips but is super fast doing it.
Back in 2013, a Maker dad named Royce Hutain documented his daughter Zoey’s first LED Halloween costume in a brief YouTube video, which collected over 22 million views and later inspired a business of glowing stickman costumes. This year, he has upped his game by creating a Disney-inspired getup, aptly dubbed “Version 2.0 Minnie Mouse Edition,” that uses digitally addressable LED strips hooked up to an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).
Aside from being responsive to sound, the new ATmega328 based costume features a pair of potentiometers, a button in the back of one of the ears for control, and a hidden microphone in the front. According to Hutain, the entire wardrobe is equipped with 12 modes and a total of 372 LEDs.
“I never had any plans turning it into a business until the requests started coming in,” Hutain writes.
Safe to say that the future looks bright for this Maker dad! Once the Halloween rush comes to an end, Hutain is looking to launch LED suits that are “designed for more rigorous movements like nighttime 5K runs and festivals. These suits will have features that sync with music or respond to your pulse.”
Having spent countless hours sitting as his desk, Maker Frank Cohen had always found lava lamps to provide a calming effect that would help him wind down after a long day’s work. This was the inspiration behind his decision to devise a modern-day version of the once-popular decorative novelty item, which recently made its Kickstarter debut.
Dubbed Waves, Cohen has created a smart Bluetooth speaker that features rows of programmable LED lights, each of which illuminate customizable diffusion filters. Whether one wants to keep it on their desk as a conversation piece or furnish the shelves on their walls, the possibilities are endless.
In fact, it can play your favorite tunes while the LEDs flash in personalized patterns, serving as a standalone light show. Tired of receiving social notifications on your phone? When paired with a smart device, Waves can alert you in a much more soothing, less intrusive manner.
Waves comes with at least 30 minutes of pre-programmed light patterns out of the box, and can interact with other nearby units to create more complex light and audio shows. Pre-cut diffusion filters can also be affixed to the unit, but for the do-it-yourselfers out there, simply cut blank filters into any shape for a much more unique show.
“The provisional patent pending technology that powers Waves is extraordinary. It enables deployment of home automation, entertainment on a Jumbotron level, and Waves tech is the missing ingredient for the Internet of Things. Waves will only grow more beautiful and more beneficial as it ages, just like the iPod grew up to be the iPhone,” Cohen writes.
According to its team, it has already developed an online community to develop and share shows, computer networks to transport content, and radio networks to coordinate animation between multiple units. Supported by the Pinoccio global movement, Waves is a cloud-based connected open platform with a distributed operating system, storage and transformation, as well as audio and visual display technology.
“If you have a student, child, or colleague you want to introduce to the world of technology, Waves is an excellent decision. It is the coolest new Internet of Things tech.”
Nearly every kid had a kaleidoscope in their hands at some point during their childhood. The brilliant display was mesmerizing! Still today, the colorful churning designs are a delight to any onlooker’s eye. Jose Daniel Herrera has devised his own kaleidoscope, with a Maker twist of course, that can be displayed on any wall in your home.
Herrera’s relatively simple design centers around a series of addressable LED strips. He cut down a string of 60 LEDs to sets of five and fixed them onto a circular piece of PVC, before planting a layer of diffusing Plexiglass over the top to achieve the desired appearance of the LEDs.
With the LEDs linked to an Arduino Nano (ATmega328), Herrera has the ability to install various lighting patterns to fit his needs. Whether it’s a frantic dance party or a calming nightlight for a baby’s room, any light arrangement is now possible. The code for this project can be found on the Maker’s blog here.
All in all, this is a fairly straightforward DIY project that can provide a nifty lift to any room in your house. The ease of assembly makes this an ideal endeavor for those just getting acquainted with Arduino and DIY builds.
For more sensational designs, you can always head over to ourBits & Pieces archives where you’ll find plenty of spectacular Arduino powered projects.
