How to Make an Amazing Umbrella That Looks Like a UFO #WearableWednesday #Arduino #Wearabletech
This week I’m excited to reveal a version of an LED umbrella which looks like an awesome UFO. Maker Corey Gonzalves decided he liked my Adafruit FLORAbrella, but he wanted to add his own twist of speed control for the lights. So, he combined a tiny Gemma Arduino microcontroller with a potentiometer to allow for some cool light effects. Instead of the traditional LED Neopixel strips, he opted for one of our large Neopixel rings for the top canopy of the umbrella and added a shroud of shower curtain to reflect and diffuse the beautiful colors. I’m sure there was some time savings using the ring, which he says was inspired by our Sound Reactive Drums tutorial. You might say it is an Adafruit mash-up!
Since I live in Philadelphia, I can only hope that one of our fancy Mummers brigades decides to DIY some of these umbrellas. Corey has created a quick one-page on his design, so there really is no excuse for people not to make one. What a great idea, and as always, I’m happy to see more umbrellas created for an instant LED show. TY for making my week, Corey! For anyone else interested in LED umbrellas, here’s the FLORAbrella learning guide. This is the fab umbrella that changes color to match its surroundings thanks to a tiny sensor. Stay bright at night!
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Open Hardware is In, New CircuitPython and Pi 5 16GB, and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!