Create an LED-lit cube that changes color while monitoring any kind of data you want
Posted 05.14.2010 at 2:35 pm
14 Comments
LED Cube
A. Housing
B. Multi-colored LED
C. Arduino microcontroller
D. Perfboard
John B. Carnett
The vast amount of information at our fingertips these days can be as distracting as it is useful. Tracking something like the movement of an index on the stock market by feverishly checking a ticker all day is often more than you want to deal with. So this cube lets you display data it receives wirelessly from the Internet—trends in the market, the weather, your Twitter traffic—in the simplest form possible, as light that subtly changes in color and intensity. Say the skies are expected to clear up: Per your programming instructions, the cube will just turn a pleasant blue. Inside, an open-source Arduino microcontroller with Wi-Fi connectivity runs the show, downloading any data source (RSS feeds, for example) and translating it into instructions for the attached LEDs. Then you can just kick back and enjoy the light show.
In the Red: The cube lights up in response to data from the Internet—in this case, a drop in the Dow Jones index. Paul Wootton
Data Cubes
Time: 1 Hour
Cost: $95
Easy: 3/5
For more detailed help, check out Vin's source code and a project wiki on Github.
1. Get a translucent housing [A] for the project. We used the GRÖNÖ lamp from Ikea ($15 for a set of two; ikea.com).
2. Build the circuit, connecting the LEDs [B] and all the other parts to the Arduino micro-
controller [C]
3. Choose from the available code on popsci.com to find a data stream you’d like to monitor, or write your own
4.Upload the program onto the Arduino controller. Put the electronics inside the base of the housing
5. Find a home for the cube (or place multiple cubes together), and start getting informed
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i would like to use this just as ambient lighting in my hosue.
really, this is what we are spending our time "inventing" a glorified mood ring?
I'm giving this idea 3.5 stars out of 5. It would be cool to connect the light patterns to the number of emails/facebook comments you have waiting for you, weather, or even how far behind you are on your PopSci articles... but the 1 hour project estimate seems like it could eaily skyrocket depending on what your trying to do.
I'll be honest, I want to give it a try.
Would have been usefull in the days when I was trading PopSci Exchange!
The age of "Information Overload". I think the author has it, approximate data is good enough many times without information overload. We need sources of subtle information in our lives too. Like that it's wired to the internet with unlimited possibilities. If you mood is tied to the stock market, then I guess it could be called a mood ring.
Awesome! Now I don't have to keep opening my laptop to see how my BT download is progressing. Lol.
I am amazed that anyone can do this. i spent over an hour just trying to understand the directions and the wikis and the websites. Wow. and this is only 3/5 difficulty?
Ok, so i found the project on popsci.com, (here im presuming) but i do not see any data sources here. nor do i see any anywhere else on the web, except for one stock market sample on the project page made by the creator. any help? because im not smart enough to make one on my own :/ i know no C++
needs more code... but still cool!
where did you find the code?
never mind, found the link... but which one is the acual code for the monitoring?
This looks a lot like the concept NoticeMe we did in school last semester.
sites.google.com/site/group9noticeme/
Almost feels like one should take some credit for this, anyway nice idea with including the stockmarket something we never thought of...
NoticeMe was mad in the course Ubiquitous Computing (CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, Gothenburg Sweden)
@Jacxz The resemblance is uncanny! I had never seen your NoticeMe project before, but I like it - especially the icons. You've done a much more substantial project than the Orbs of Approximate Data, which are quite simple.
You and I are apparently on the same wavelength. I would really like to touch base with you just to chat or to collaborate on some project in the future. My email address is easy to find. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.