Homemade Daft Punk Helmet

You may not be French, and you may not have had a series of hit records, but you can still have the blinky LED helmet, thanks to this build from [Electronoobs]. They have put together a neat Daft Punk helmet built from 3D printed parts, an Arduino, a Bluetooth module, a string of WS2812 addressable LEDs and a simple app. The helmet itself is 3D printed, and the Arduino, Bluetooth, and battery are mounted in the chin. The LED panel is a series of WS2812 LED light strips wired together in series. The whole thing is controlled over a Bluetooth connection to an Android app that was built with the MIT App Inventor.

It’s a nice, simple build, but as we’ve discussed before choosing diffusers is hard. We’re not sure if a thicker panel covering the LED strips, or flipping the LEDs over and adding a reflective layer would be the right moves to improve upon the diffused look. Either way, it’s a neat place to start with your own build and a good way to learn about how to have fun with LED strips.

We’ve seen plenty of similar builds in the past, including hand-soldered ones, iPhone-controlled ones, and a bar to hang out in while wearing it. This one is simpler than most, though, and using the MIT App Inventor makes controlling it from a mobile device simple as well.

from Hackaday http://bit.ly/2TkfUFE
via IFTTT