An iPad + Raspberry Pi Make a Fantastic Modern Lite-Brite
Redditor Gorse212 has come up with a fun way to draw using LEDs.
Lite-Brite is a classic toy, originally manufactured by Hasbro in 1967, that lets kids create fun illuminated pictures. The toy consists of a box with a light inside, with one side of the box made from a panel full of small holes. Little translucent colored pegs fit into those holes. By placing the appropriate pegs into specific holes, kids can design colorful pictures that light up. While Lite-Brite toys are still being made, they don’t seem so special anymore when compared to the technological wonders children have access to today. That’s why Redditor Gorse212 used an iPad and Raspberry Pi to make a modern version of the toy.
If you were to just look at the iPad, you’d think it was running an incredibly simple drawing app. But, once you start doodling, your picture comes to life on a panel of bright LEDs. Sketch a green circle on the iPad and a green circle will show up illuminated on the LED panel. That panel is a 64 x 64 RGB LED matrix that is connected to a Raspberry Pi, which runs a server than can be used to control the color and state of each individual LED. A companion app on the iPad connects to that server. Essentially, drawing on the iPad app simply tells the Raspberry Pi’s server to turn on the corresponding LED. This may not have the nostalgia of a Lite-Brite toy, but it seems like a lot more fun than searching through shag carpet to find lost pegs.