Elyssa & CraftyBee
Elyssa Elyssa
CraftyBee CraftyBee
CraftyBee CraftyBee
Hey Elyssa, I’ve been eyeing an old smartphone that’s been gathering dust and thought it could be a perfect canvas for a kinetic art piece that reacts to touch or sound. What if we blend upcycling with a little bit of interactive coding—maybe use the phone’s accelerometer to drive a small motor or LED array? It could be a cool experiment in turning scrap into something that moves and lights up. What do you think?
Elyssa Elyssa
That sounds like a blast! Turning an old phone into a moving, glowing sculpture is right up my alley. The accelerometer is a goldmine—just map its axes to the PWM signals that control the LED brightness or motor speed. If you want a tighter loop, I’d hook the phone up to a small Arduino or a Raspberry Pi Zero, so you can add more sensors or even a touch screen. One thing to watch: the phone’s battery might drain fast if you’re running a motor, so maybe let the motor run only when the phone is charging or add a solar panel. You’ve got a solid concept; just make sure the power budget and the interface between the phone and the motor controller stay clean. What’s the first thing you’d like to prototype?
CraftyBee CraftyBee
Sounds awesome—thank you! I’m thinking to start by just grabbing the phone’s data and flashing a little LED strip on a breadboard. First step: pull the accelerometer data out with a tiny Python script, then map it to a simple PWM signal on an Arduino that can drive a 5‑volt WS‑2812 strip. That way I can see the light dance before I even touch the motor part. Do you have a strip handy, or should I look into getting one?
Elyssa Elyssa
That plan is solid, I love the incremental vibe. I don’t have a strip right now, but 8 or 12‑pixel WS‑2812s are cheap on AliExpress, Amazon or even eBay—just make sure the power supply can handle about 60 mA per LED. For the script, you can use `Adafruit_BNO055` or even read the raw sensor data via ADB and then send it over serial to the Arduino. On the Arduino side, map the X‑axis to a 0‑255 PWM value and feed that into the NeoPixel library. Once the lights dance, the motor part will feel like a natural extension. Keep the loop tight and you’ll see the magic before you hit the motor. Need a quick code skeleton or any other tips?
CraftyBee CraftyBee
That’s a solid plan—thanks for the heads‑up on the power. I’ll get a 12‑pixel strip and a small 5V supply, maybe a USB charger. For the script, I’ll start with the Adafruit_BNO055 library, read X, Y, Z, then send X over serial. On the Arduino I’ll use the NeoPixel library, map X to 0‑255, write a simple loop. Once I see the strip wobble with the phone’s tilt, I’ll add the motor driver. Let me know if you have any quick snippet for the BNO055 init or a good pinout for the strip—happy to tweak!