I'm happy to announce that the folks at Adafruit thought my mortar board was so cool, that they decided to share my recent video of the cap in action on their wearables blog. I'd like to thank them so much for their support and promotion. Here's the video that was featured in case you missed it:
As promised, here are some more up close shots of the circuit. It performed well at graduation despite the battery concerns. Many thought it was the best graduation cap there, and netted me a few cat calls from Naomi Judd, as well as compliments from the President and Registrar. As promised I will make a fritzing diagram and some code for github.
Side view of circuit.
More vertical view of circuit.
(attempt at) other side of circuit.
A bigger picture of the circuit.
Here's how it looks from the front with the lights disabled.
A close look at the safety pin job that held it in place.
So, after some initial ups and downs, I completed my full graduation outfit!
Here's a short video preview of the headwear:
What you see here is the full package: the mortar board modified with a LED sequence using Adafruit Neopixel and an Arduino Uno, a feathered tassel, aaand some sunglasses. While the last two are a bit more self-explanatory, let me explain how I made the cap possible-- I'll try to get some pictures of it tomorrow after the big rodeo... maybe even some of my college's footage, if I can find any.
While it's not exactly the best practices for a project like this I working under the pressure of only having a few hours in the lab, so I had to work quickly. The first and most important thing, which you may want to keep in mind with your own Neopixel adventures is the fact that the strand I got was actually wired in reverse. That is to say, the wires for input were actually on the output side. I read that this occasionally happens, but I thought I would mention it as it set me back for a while. Of course, you can always just read that one said says "digital in" or DI, and the other says "digital Out" or DO...
Other than this, it should as (possibly) simple as wiring the digital in to a selected digital pin, the 5v to 5v and the ground to ground. Next comes the programming!
Working with neopixel is a great way to experience iteration in a very 'real' environment! I see this because of course your code will be driven make the lights change. Luckily, if you're working with the Adafruit modded Arduino 1.6 install, the Neopixel library will be right there to use, which, while it does not contain many useful example codes, has some great built in functions for making your own sequences, namely setPixelColor(), show(), and clear(). Using all three of these, along with the numberOfPixels() qualifier should be all you need to right successful iterating sequences! While I will make the ones I made available on github after graduation, I implore you to write your own functions, because, even if they go wrong, you might produce something awesome! For example, I accidentally fed in a uint16_t instead of a uint32_t for a color, and instead of white, it was this eery blue. If you do something too far fetched, the sequence just won't occur, so there's nothing to worry about! Start simple, and get more complex. Play around with delay speeds, the size of the pixels you work with and what colors you change them too, and you're guaranteed to have a great time! I look forward to applying neopixel to more things, like my instruments.
For powering the arduino, I got some 9v adapter wires and fed them into one of the dc adapters that goes into the arduino. I modified the circuit to include an on/off switch for when I don't feel like parading my funk. I've been told that 9vs are really efficient, but for the scope of this particular project it was beneficial in that it took up much less space, and complimented the parts I had on hand. I would have rather used my flora, but I didnt have any batteries to satisfy the pinout, so I ended up using just an Arduino Uno. Thankfully I don't think my audience will be too critical.
As I mentioned once I get some free time I'll upload my functions to github, as well as a fritzing diagram. Thanks for all your support! I look forward to graduating tomorrow.
In case you haven't heard, I'm graduating soon in Computer Science and Applied Science & Mathematics. That of course means a graduation ceremony, which means the supreme irony of wearing an absolutely silly costume to celebrate an academic achievement.
I'm sure you're aware of the tradition of modifying your mortar board, usually with some kind of decoration or writing along the top. I've decided to get creative and use some electronics to make one sassy futuristic get up. I'll be making two primary modifications, namely the addition of neopixel led's around the sides and top, and a feather tassel instead of a boring ol' regular one. Here are some of the supplies I'm going to use to make the lights a reality:
Flora microcontroller
Neopixel LEDs
A potentiometer or switch
a small power supply
some things I'll forget to mention
Today, I should have one meter of neopixel in hand. I'm going to try my best to get it tested with the flora as quickly as possible so I can began more intricate procedure like writing my own sequences and changes. The last and dreadful step will be applying everything to the cap. Thankfully I also have my girlfriend's to work with if I mess anything up.
The flora's power options leave a little to be desired in terms of pinout and max voltage, meaning I may have to purchase a proper battery for it, but I believe I can shape a battery pack out of some RC supplies I have.
I'll stay updated on twitter, youtube and here on the project. :)
