Build a Pythagorean Triangle Clock with AVR

We love clock projects, and the latest example below by Julian Richardson is not only original but also somewhat educational - the Pythagoras clock. The display is based around the fact that a Pythagorean triangle can be made up from three sides that are 3, 4 and 5 units long.

Taking advantage of the factorisation of numbers for the time of the day, Julian has created a clock face using two Pythagorean triangles, laser-cut with LEDs behind each unit of length, for example:

With a little practice you will learn how to read the clock, and is perhaps a neat stepping-stone between normal clocks and binary versions. A demonstration is shown in the video below - where the clock starts from 9 o'clock:

The circuit is quite simple and is based around an Atmel ATmega168, which can easily be modified for your own development board. For complete details including code and the face template - visit Julian's interesting website. And if you're interested in making your own version, Tronixlabs can help you with the parts, such as:

• ATmega328P-PU microcontroller
• USBasp programmer
• lots of different LEDs
• and much more!