Interactive String LED Floor Mandala at ...

Dave Hrynkiw
June 1, 2017

Because... of things... Solarbotics didn't do a booth or official presence at this year's Bay Area MakerFaire. We opted to do something fun this time, building a custom just-for-the-fair piece of sorta-interactive LED artwork. Following on the success of the quickie LED floor mandala resting area we did at the NYC MF, we turned it up to 11 for the Bay area, making a WiFi-enabled version of the same thing.

Here's the technical detail on what we did:

The project is based on a modified "Double Rainbow" controller, with the Ardweeny brains replaced by a ESP-12. We set up the three major axis as "always on", with six zones controlled by the controller for animations. We advertised the WiFi SSID point and the URL for people to login to select one of the 6 animations available.

Dan set us up a nice 10' layout cord to speed layout of the major axis:

  

The franken-Double-Rainbow merged with the ESP-12F.

Setup at the Faire grounds, with our co-founder & CFO, Cheryl. The darkroom (Expo hall..2?) has a very hard rubber floor, so installing them directly to the floor would have turned the LEDs to dust with all the foot traffic. It took us 2 hours and some negotiating to find a 12'x20' carpet at a local Home Depot to mount the piece.

Floor Mandala in full operation! We had zero complications with the piece, other than the WiFi point saturating and not allowing us to login ourselves. Nothing a quick reboot didn't fix.

Sunday, and the lights have just come up at the Maker Faire. Cheryl, Alan Yates, and Elizabeth (sales coordinator extraordinaire) and two other tired attendees are getting ready to wrap up.

Peel up the art and signage, and you get ...more art! Remember, this was brand new (end-of-roll) carpet. That's what several thousand dirty feet can do to a carpet over a long weekend.

Interesting thing about going from a static LED display (in NYC) to a dynamic display is people (especially children) were interacting with it as if their footsteps were making things happen. Huh. We didn't expect that. I suppose the most natural interaction with blinky lights is to turn them on and off physically (not via your cell phone). Lesson learned for next time!

MORE POSTS

October 21, 2003
Robothon workshop almost full!

We've got 20 spots, and 17 seats are filled. If you're planning on being at the Seattle Robothon and want to get in on an introductory Sumovore Workshop, now's the time to check out the registration page! Read More...

April 21, 2023
Spring Creality 3D Printer Sale - Let's ...

It's time to put away shovels, and clean up! We're making space in the warehouse, so we're moving out these big boxes of 3D printers! While supplies last, in-store only, final sale! Small, tidy, and lots of really good features - the Sermoon v1 Pro - 32% off! Super high detail printing with a Creality […]

August 3, 2005
New Yellow Treads

Want a bumble-bee look to your robot tank? Intersperse our new GMT-Yellow treads into the link chain! You should even be able to use a yellow link as a opto-reflector in a wheel (err...tread?) encoder circuit. ALSO, we're the only place in North America you can get these new yellow tread links!

January 22, 2014
Wednesday Links: Marble Track Table, Fil...

Technology empowering cats! Cats should have the right to tweet! Or at least have a live video stream dedicated to their cat-like doings and goings. All with the help of Arduino Yun.This is just one of the many things (five is considered many, right?) that we have for you today: Wooden Table Carved with Marble […]

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.

cart