Be the Light of the Party with a Tetrahedron LED Hat
This geometric device was inspired by the German hip-hop/electropunk band Deichkind.
When mechanical engineer and hobbyist “Kuchbert” saw the German band Deichkind live — wearing triangular LED-enabled hats — he knew he needed one. For better or worse, he didn’t have the knowledge of how to build it. However, when he started experimenting with Arduino boards over a year ago, he naturally also discovered programmable WS2812B strips. From there, it was just a matter of time until he would don his own tetrahedral head covering.
The device is controlled with an Arduino Nano, while power is supplied by a USB power bank. User interface consists of an Android app via an HC-06 Bluetooth module. Though Kuchbert’s code is reportedly too messy to share at this point, he plans to make it available withing the next few weeks. For those that are somewhat experienced with this technology, cobbling a bit of code together for hat-power shouldn’t be a major barrier to completion.
Perhaps the most challenging part of the project would actually be cutting out the proper triangles, which are constructed out of black acrylic to support the LEDs and provide eye holes. Transparent foil covers the front two panels of the tetrahedron, which seems to offer some diffusion, along with protection for the lights and eyes.
You can see it demonstrated in the video below. Intentionally or not, it's actually quite scary to see when worn!