Light Display With Stroke Sensor and Arduino

This is a light display controlled by an Arduino and a stroke sensor. When the stroke sensor is activated, the brightness of the displays can change accordingly.

Step 1: Prepare the Materials

For this project, you will need:

Two Neopixel LED Strips

One Arduino UNO

Two 18x24 Acrylic Sheets

One 18x24 1/8" Craft Ply Wood

Conductive Threads

Non-Conductive Threads

Felt

Jumper wires

Solder iron and soldering wire

Wood glue

Step 2: Laser Cut the Wood & Acrylic Sheets

Use the template to laser cut (template 1) the wood and acrylic sheets (template 2 and 3). You can change the patterns on the sheet to match your style.

Step 3: Install the LED Strips

Cut the LED Strips into 11 strips of 5 LEDs.

Line them up on the board. The position of these LEDs should match the position of the slits on the top panel. You can use a marker to draw out where you should put the LED.

Solder the ends of the strips together. Color code the wires to make it easier to debug later.

Step 4: Construct Stroke Sensor

Cut the felt (either by hand or a laser cutter) to fit the top wooden panel.

Sew the conductive thread and non-conductive threads together to make a stroke sensor. Follow an in-depth tutorial on how to make a stroke sensor here.

Step 5: Connect All the Pieces Together

Link the stroke sensors and the LEDs strips to the Arduino.

Open Arduino and install the FastLED library:

1. Click here to download the FastLED library.

2. You should have a .zip folder in your Downloads folderUnzip the .zip folder and you should get FastLED-master folder

3. Rename your folder from FastLED-master to FastLED

4. Move the FastLED folder to your Arduino IDE installation libraries folderFinally, re-open your Arduino IDE

Install the below code to the Arduino:

#include "FastLED.h"

// How many leds in your strip? #define NUM_LEDS 55

// For led chips like Neopixels, which have a data line, ground, and power, you just // need to define DATA_PIN. For led chipsets that are SPI based (four wires - data, clock, // ground, and power), like the LPD8806 define both DATA_PIN and CLOCK_PIN #define DATA_PIN 5 #define CLOCK_PIN 13 int x=100; int y=200; boolean control=true;

int sensorPin=A0; int sensorValue=0;

// Define the array of leds CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];

void setup() { // Uncomment/edit one of the following lines for your LEDs arrangement. FastLED.addLeds(leds, NUM_LEDS); pinMode(sensorPin,INPUT); pinMode(DATA_PIN, OUTPUT); }

void loop() { sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin); for (int i=0; i<56;i++) { leds[i]=CRGB::Blue; FastLED.setBrightness(sensorValue); FastLED.show(); } }