Whilst browsing the internet a few weeks back, I stumbled across a BBC article discussing Nasa and Boeing’s creation of a coloured solid state lighting system, destined for the International Space Station. The lights main benefit is that it’s been designed to provide visual clues to reinforce and assist with the astronauts circadian rhythms.
Which got me thinking; with budgets tightening all over the world right now, why spend $11.2 million dollars when it can all be done with a $35 Raspberry Pi and some $40 Adafruit LEDs. Leaving us $11.1 million dollars and some change to spend worrying about that pesky space radiation, and its bit flipping tendencies.
From what could be made out from the article, Blue light is thought to stimulate cells in the eyes, promoting alertness, whilst also suppressing the bodies natural creation of melatonin, key to inducing sleep. This is great news for people that need to stay alert whilst trapped in a tin can, dodging space debris all day; but really makes it tough to relax and fall asleep at night. So over time this lighting state gradually transitions through to red, to ‘encourage a feeling of sleepiness’.
So anyway, enough getting tied down with all of these facts, lets have some fun.
RGB Pixels are digitally-controllable lights you can set to any color, or animate. Each RGB LED and controller chip is molded into a ‘dot’ of silicone. The dots are weatherproof and rugged. There are four flanges molded in so that you can ‘push’ them into a 12mm drill hole in any material up to 1.5mm/0.06″ thick. They’re typically used to make outdoor signs. These pixels have a flat square back, we also have pixels that are long and thin, both are the same electronics, just different shapes!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.