Daniel, Jeremy and Ryan
Our aim is to create an interactive LED matrix that can be used for a wide range of applications, the main one being interactive art. The goal is to create a fun, engaging, and natural way for people of all ages to interact with technology without needing to see/understand the technology. We want to (eventually) create many panels of these interactive matrices and mount this project in the CICS Makerspace.
Our plan involves the use of an array of infrared sensors (emitter LEDs and phototransistors) to output an array of distances. When an object is brought close to the sensor array, the emitted IR (840 - 880nm) is reflected into the phototransistor. We then send this array of distances into our filtering algorithm and display a variety of effects on the RGB LEDs on the panel. In the current setup, one RGB WS2812B LED is mapped to one IR sensor, for a total of 16 per panel. We are hoping to increase the pixel density of the RGB LEDs in the future and decrease the per panel cost with 16 many IR sensors.Â
Our vision is to program many different visualization techniques for interpreting sensor data into LED effects, and build a simple web interface to control the matrix via an external ESP8266. We plan to build a diffuser, either out of acrylic with frosted spray paint or 3D print a thin diffuser out of white filament. Our team will set specific milestones and test different parts of the project to ensure that everything is working as intended. We can also use this LED Matrix to map touch combinations to keyboard presses through an HID firmware update on the ATMega's firmware.
Available at: https://www.digikey.com/en/mylists/list/SEOYTBGGIW
Main components:
(1x) ATMega32u4 8-bit Microcontroller
(2x) MCP3008 10-bit 8-channel Multiplexed ADC
(16x) WS2812B Individual LEDs
(16x) 860nm ultra-high power IR LEDs (200mW/sr)
(16x) 880nm IR phototransistors (M5)
(16x) 2N7000 200mA N-Channel Enhancement Mode MOSFET (M5)
(1x) ESP32 Dev Board (CICS Makerspace)
DigiKey - All parts. All ICs sourced from U.S. companies
JLCPCB - PCB and Stencil Manufacturing
KiCAD - PCB Design
GitHub - VCS for team members, completely open source
Soldering Iron - THT Component Soldering
Reflow Oven - SMD Component Soldering
Solder Paste - SMD Component Placement
Our entire project is open-source under an MIT license, all of the hardware and software files can be found at the GitHub link at the top of the page.