Cost: $5,000
Time: 1 Week
Easy | | | | |
Hard
A few semesters ago, a group of undergrads at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took on a challenge more daunting than classwork: disco. Before a dorm party, they worked night and day for a week to build a computer-controlled, pixelated dance floor out of 1x4s, LEDs, tinfoil, paper towels and old computer parts. The
8-by-16-foot result would make Travolta weep with joy.
Each of the 512 six-inch-square pixels contains three LEDs pointed down at a square of paper towel that sits in a larger piece of foil. The foil reflects the light up through the plastic floor, while the paper towel mutes its glow. (LEDs stay cool, so the towels won´t ignite.) A computer controls each pixel individually, and the software generates 25 disco-tastic patterns, enabling DJs to match the light show to the music they´re playing.
After earning minor fame at MIT (one of the inventors scored dates because of his uncanny soldering skills), the students began upgrading the floor. Their latest model, for sale at dropoutdesign.com for $450, has a prebuilt circuit board and instructions, so anyone can turn a basement into a discotheque.
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Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?