Erin St. Blaine's Totoro-Themed Umbrella Stand Uses a Raspberry Pi Pico W to Warn of Incoming Rain

Maker Erin St. Blaine has put a Raspberry Pi Pico W board in a delightfully Totoro-themed umbrella stand — so you always know whether you need to grab one or the way out or not.

"Let the spirits of the forest work for you. Build yourself a smart umbrella stand that knows the weather and lets you know with a beautiful glow if you are going to need your umbrella that day," St. Blaine writes, by way of introduction to the project tutorial. "My umbrella stand is themed after 'My Neighbor Totoro' and gives me a smile every time I walk past it."

Using a silhouette of Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's classic 1988 anime film, snatched from the scene during which he borrows an umbrella while waiting with Satsuki and Mei for a bus to arrive, the smart umbrella stand is designed to offer at-a-glance information about the upcoming weather — specifically, whether or not it's going to rain and thus whether or not you're going to need to borrow, like Totoro, an umbrella.

"The Raspberry Pi Pico W connects to your Wi-Fi [network] and performs a simple task," St. Blaine explains. "Is it going to rain today? If the answer is yes, your umbrella stand lights up and glows, reminding you to grab your umbrella."

The CircuitPython-powered project is simple at heart, requiring only the Raspberry Pi Pico W — the second-generation version of Raspberry Pi's microcontroller board, adding Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios — and a strip of addressable RGB LEDs, plus a suitable power supply and connecting cables. For style points, St. Blaine's build also includes a vinyl-cut sticker and a 3D-printed translucent Totoro figure to complete the aesthetics.

The full tutorial is available on the Adafruit Learn portal now.