My first design is a music box that adjusts the brightness of its light based on changes in the external environment. The specific design can reference the style of Hayao Miyazaki’s film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.
Initial Sketch
My second design is also inspired by the movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.
My second design represents Sosuke’s house on the waves of the sea. Below, there is a rotating magnet, and above, the “sea surface” is made with magnetic powder. By rotating the magnet, the shape of the magnetic powder on top can change, and the intensity of the waves along the shore can be adjusted through Arduino.
My last design is about the use of motor, you can adjust the speed of the motor, The crawling speed of the caterpillar can be adjusted.
Hi Haosen, what materials were you thinking of using for the Ponyo-inspired projects? Can you find any real life products that have some of the qualities you’re looking for? I’m having trouble visualizing them. Maybe use the vacuum former for the clear dome? Or use an off-the-shelf snowglobe kit, fill it with your own items, and build an electronic base for it.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=diy+snow+globe+kit
if you use a LDR (photocell), the light level would change as you rotate the top, and that could inform your neopixel animations.
reminds me a little of the LED glasses they give out on cruise ships, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Pint-Glasses-Color-Change/dp/B089T84FTQ maybe you could take one apart to analyze its design.
for the magnet idea, maybe you could use ferrofluid https://www.amazon.com/CMS-Magnetics-Magnetic-Ferrofluid-Dropper/dp/B008H40LG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PFgVtzsXHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6dtyaNc0to
but it gets complicated and expensive pretty quickly… so would have to be a more minimalist approach than these videos
Your caterpillar idea looks like it uses cams. Here are a few resources for that:
https://www.instructables.com/Mechanical-Cam-Toys/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxWEAOx99m0
and you can use a gearbox motor to slowly spin your cam shaft: https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=gear+motor
Please reach out with more questions! Your ideation is still a bit vague for more specific parts recommendations.