- Published on
LED Cube - Data Visualizer
Project Info
Location: University of California, Riverside (UCR); University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, San Diego
Project Team: Gustavo J Correa, Jiunn Siow (2016), Elijah Marchese (2016), Augustin Balquin (2016)
From 2016 to 2018 I worked on several iterations of the LED Cube. What was an initial curiousity with Light Emitting Diode (LED) matrices, eventually became a fascination with using tangible display interfaces as a medium to explore all sorts of technologies, engineering practices, and entertainment experiences during my undergraduate studies.
The Build Process
Version 1: The first iteration was designed and manufactured at the UC Santa Barbara Hackathon during April 2016. Together with Jiunn and Augustin, we built this version using LED matrices that were available at the time at our undergraduate university (UC Riverside). We paired the cube with IBM's Watson API and a Leap Motion Controller to create an smart home assistant.
Version 2: Later at the UC San Diego Hackathon during October 2016, I created the LED Cube Ver2. I was fascinated at the time to experiment with more capable and brighter LED displays. The cube here uses displays powered by the WS2812B LEDs. This Cube would later serve as my platform to experiment with many more technologies.
Version 3: The project continued during Spring 2017 for my EE120B Embedded Systems Project. I adapted the LED Cube for Ver3 to work together with an Atmega 1284 microcontroler to relay sound picked up by either the Atmega's microphone or connected auxillary cord, and display the sound's amplitude on the LED Cube.
Version 4: During Fall 2017, I created the LED Cube Ver4 for the CS 122A Advanced Embedded Systems project. The goal for this project was to create an interactive and immersive experience combining music and moving lights. The vision was to create a Cube that the DJ or music producer could control during a live performance. Each side of the Cube had a servo motor that could be controlled to move that side's display in response to changes in the music. I drew inspiration from Deadmau5's Cube used during his tours.
Gallery - Version 1
Gallery - Version 2
Gallery - Version 3
Gallery - Version 4
Links
LED Cube Experience - CS122A Project