Damon Ahola

Good Chuck, Bad Chuck, Nunchucks.

For my final project, I experimented with Persistence of Vision (POV) using the Adafruit MiniPOV3 kit. Here are a few photos of me soldering the boards.

My original idea was to embed these LEDs into sleeves of clothing so when one waves their arms, words would appear in air. After coding the PCBs & furiously waving my arms, I realized this may not be the best application. I attached the PCB to a stick & waved it for a photo. It displayed a word, but it was forward & backward. I also attached them to the inside of an umbrella, which was mildly successful.

Eventually I concluded that nunchucks would be a great application for the POV boards. I created a quick prototype before creating the final nunchucks.

When a ninja encounters a confrontation, he/she can choose to display a good or bad message depending on their mood & situation. One nunchuck is light toned (good message) & one nunchuck is dark toned (bad message). This is an epic tale of a hero & his external as well as internal struggles of what is good & what is bad.

Perfect holiday gift for your mom.

Per Becky’s request, here’s the Instructables link to my cardboard speaker heads tutorial.

Final Project Inspiration

Thoughts for my final project started with a 3D printed or laser cut playable record. Which I found out that this guy made some for the Fisher Price record player that are pretty awesome. Check out Prosthetic Knowledge here.

I also came across this really great project where a listener can create their own song by drawing on a paper record. Check out DYSKOGRAF here.

The other idea I have is experimenting with LED’s & persistence of vision. There’s an iPhone app, which I downloaded & doesn’t really work.

The Adafruit site has some awesome examples of what is possible with LEDs & a Raspberry Pi by mounting it on a bike.

I’m going to attempt to get the same great effect by embedding LEDs into clothing (sleeves of a jacket, legs of pants, etc). Could be good for halloween costumes or running at night. I am even thinking this could be cool on gloves or brassknuckes.

S.A.L.S. – Sound And Light Sock

For my Plush + Light project I originally sketched up an interactive nightlight.

Upon reading one of Richard’s posts, it inspired me to change directions to create a plush speaker.

After further refinement, I decided on a sock form with a speaker that could hang above my desk.

S.A.L.S. stands for Sound And Light Sock. It is essentially a suspended bluetooth speaker with sound activated lighting. The flexible wire arm form is ideal for wrapping around any elevated structure. Adding movement to the sock with a subtle push, creates a unique sound & light warping experience. The S.A.L.S. is sure to add disco delight to any home or office environment.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/53915803″>SALS 01</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user397652″>push button</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

Thanks for checking out the sound & light show.

Damon

Plush bluetooth speaker

Quarantined to my apartment the last couple of days due to the hurricane, has got me thinking about this plush project. My original idea that I posted was a tabletop portable night light made of felt. I really liked Richard’s post about a plush speaker. I am leaning more towards a bluetooth light up speaker. It would be wireless so you could throw it around the room. I ordered this speaker on Amazon that I’ll be using.

Interactive nightlight

Here is a page of ideation sketches I did for the plush nightlight project. I am doing something like the circled sketch. It will be fabricated from felt panels. The bottom will not be sewn together & when spread apart to create a stand, the EL panel will illuminate.

Philips fabric light panels

The company Phillips has integrated multi-colored LEDs within textile panels. They sell them as panels to “enhance interiors with light, texture & dynamic content.” Here is the site if you’d like to know more:

http://www.lighting.philips.com/main/application_areas/luminous-textile/index.wpd

Glo Pillow

This pillow is designed to wake you up by slowly illuminating. It has a digital clock that is viewable on the pillow surface as well. I believe it’s a concept done by a design student in Ireland. Here’s his website:

http://www.embryo.ie/glo/index.html

TRON

TRON is pretty much the most awesome fusion of lights & fabric.

First there was the 1982 TRON film.

Then there wasTRON Legacy, which came out in 2010.

But DIY TRON guy is boss.

I found this awesome detailed tutorial on Instructables, in which a guy makes his own TRON suit with LED strips. The first suit he built (I’m assuming TRON v1.0) he used EL wire. He lists numerous reasons why EL wire is not suitable for this application & decided to go with LED strips instead.

Just in time for Halloween! Check it out here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-lit-Tron-v20-suit/?ALLSTEPS