Shawn’s Project Inspirations

One of my favorite movies growing up was Tron not for the plot or anything, but because I thought the Tron universe was the coolest thing.  The discs are cool and light bikes are awesome (I’d kill to have one), but I realized later I was most in awe with the LED aesthetic.  In high school I came across some really cool LED and EL wire projects and ever since I’ve really wanted to do my own project.  Below are some really cool projects I’ve seen:

But the coolest project of all is the LED spinning ball.  I stumbled across this video where this guy took 3 LED’s and 3 small motors and created a fascinating orb of light.  Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO2-tqoyGik

There are a few changes and additions I would like to make to my own LED ball.  First I will be using an Arduino to control the LED’s and motors, and have a cleaner control panel.  I am also going to use RGB LED’s so that the user is able to control the color scheme of the ball.  If I have the time I would like to make the LED’s sound responsive so that they pulse with music.  This guy also used wood and soldered metal for the frame and supports and I’m thinking of 3D printing some of the frame.

This project will be a challenge for me as I have very little coding or electronics experience, but there are many resources online and at CU.  I have already checked out an Arduino kit from Dan to get a head start on tinkering with the code and have found tutorials on Lynda.com and elsewhere for RGB and DC motor control.

Credits:

http://cdn.instructables.com/FZL/WN4U/I3KCDVX3/FZLWN4UI3KCDVX3.RECT2100.jpg

http://enlighted.com/media/elmoto/anglex500.jpg

http://media.techeblog.com/images/tronbicycle.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XN1JqVCsWxY/maxresdefault.jpg

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO2-tqoyGik