Tinkering with littleBits

For my prototyping techniques course we started working with littleBits as an introduction to physical computing.

The litteBits code kit (pictured on the right) is full of electronic building blocks that are color-coded and magnetic. Each of the building blocks has a different purpose, the blue bits represent power sources, pink bits are inputs, orange bits allow for you to include programming into inventions, and the green bits are outputs. 

littleBits Code Kit

To get acquainted with littleBits we started off with Code Kit Invention #4 which is an interactive tug of war game.  In this project the inputs were the pink buttons that acted as the game controllers, the orange code bit stored and ran the code we created, and the output was the LED matrix which received data from the orange code-bit and responded to the buttons. You can check out the tug of war invention below. 

After gaining an understanding on how littleBits work we took it up a notch and came up with an invention of our own. The product we created was a rotating lamp that responded to sound. For this sound lamp the sound trigger was the input, and the outputs were the LED matrix which provided the light and the servo motor that swings back and forth and moves the lamp. We used a toilet paper roll to conceal the motor which we attached to the wheel shown below. 

Our final product is shown on the right. We used the cork coasters to conceal the wheel on the top and a water-color painted a sheet of paper to soften the light and to make the lamp more aesthetically pleasing. To view our littleBits lamp in action watch the video below.