This Mod Gives Inline Skates Reactive LED Effects

They aren’t Rollerblades, they’re inline skates and they’re very cool. As a ‘90s kid influenced by movies like Brink and Airborne, I was all about inline skating — maybe even above BMX and skateboarding. But though inline skating reached its peak about 30 years ago, the skates themselves were never quite perfected. They were always missing something: reactive RGB LED lighting effects like these.

It really doesn’t get any more rad than this. Accel-Lights are attachments for inline skate wheel frames that have integrated batteries, controllers, and strips of individually addressable RGB LEDs. They react to the skate’s movement to produce dynamic effects based on forces from acceleration and cornering.

Basically, they’ll make you the sickest kid on the block and ensure that you crush that corporate-sponsored bully in the treacherous downhill race.

M designed Accel-Lights to fit onto some Powerslide Combat Rocker 260 frames that I’m 70% sure have been discontinued. But that doesn’t really matter, because the concept can be adapted to fit any frames. The only bit that is custom-fit to the frame is the 3D-printed cover that acts as a light diffuser. The electronic components are pretty much universal — though very slim or skeletonized frames might present an issue.

The most important of those components is the custom Accel-Lights control board, which is based on an ESP32-C3 microcontroller. That board also has a six-axis IMU (inertial measurement unit) and that is how it detects movement for the reaction effects. Finally, it has connections for a lithium battery and three WS2812b individually addressable RGB LED strips. The user can cut the LED strips to length to suit the shape of the frames.

This project is still in progress and you can’t get your hands (or feet) on Accel-Lights yet. But if you’ve held onto your inline skates over the decades, you’ll want to follow M’s progress and prepare for a release.