In our continuing quest to find the successor to the Sunceram throne, we invite you to welcome the SCC2433a solarcell! It's the little brother to the SCC3733, with similar polycrystalline & epoxy construction. It's quite the power-house in direct sunlight, but be warned - the cell arrangment is skewed in favour of current generation, not […]
Solarbotics at Calgary Comic Expo 2013
Solar botics
April 30, 2013
Whelp, many moons have passed since we posted last time (er, maybe that's a slight exaggeration), and many a thing have happened. We went to Las Vegas to the Magento conference, lasered some ukuleles, but mostly were in a mad rush preparing for the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo 2013. We teamed up with a wonderful costume designer and artist Angela Dale to produce wearable pieces that merge electronics and costume design.
Here's the first example - joint effort of Graeme Janzen, Angela Dale and Solarbotics. Custom Fosshape molded helmet is fitted perfectly to the wearer, and 3 layers of lasercut acrylic are edge-lit with 24 high-power white LEDs:
Our Voltron Helmet is based on the Black Lion toy design from Defender of the Universe, a popular cartoon in the mid eighties. Voltron consisted of 5 robot lions that joined together to form a Giant Robot that protected the galaxy from evil doers. The Black Lion in particular is special because it formed the head and torso of the combined Robot Voltron. Since the head had two different modes: Robot and Lion, it was intriguing to try to emulate the two modes as best as we could.
We used an Ardweeny, Multipack, TTLy FTDI, 2 Star Controllers, and 2 HXT900 servos to animate our replica and make it come alive with a few electronic bits. Special thanks to Angela Dale and Robyn Ayles (props designer and full-time faculty at the Mount Royal theater program) for their assistance!
This Chameleon Cocktail Ensemble was created by Angela and her assistants as a part of MakeFashion project. It uses 20 meter of addressable LED strips (add 5 meters in the headdress) powered by 3.7V LiPoly batteries, and ArduinoPro Mini to control the lighting sequences.
We also hosted the Arduino workshop at the Expo, with a slight costuming application bend and many blinky lights...
..and did lots of people watching.
Check out our Flickr photostream for details on more projects and photos!
MORE POSTS
Resistance is Futile if < 1ohm
Hey, look at us! We made a witty, over-used joke! But seriously, this week we have a schwack-load of resistors for you. Normally we save most of these for our internal use, but what's so fun about that? So we've gone ahead and opened up our entire inventory of 5% accuracy, 1/4 watt resistors. There […]
More new stuff... SC3782!
Cool! We've found some SC3782 (37x82 mm) solar cells! Since Panasonic ain't making these anymore, and there aren't many of these left, you'll only find them here at Solarbotics until they're all sold out. Get'em while they're hot!
New Product Return Policy
We've been having our usual post-Christmas trickle of product returns (for free support), and we're noting more-than-usual levels of incomplete paperwork on the parcels. If proper paperwork isn't done, the shipping company tries to bill us for customs and duties on the products that have already been paid. This leads us to a new policy […]
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.