March 10, 2022

Reimagining the lamp with an intelligent, floating bulb

from arduino.cc

The humble lamp can come in many different forms, but nearly all of them feature a singular bulb that is uninspired and only responds to a light switch or potentially an app. YouTuber Tom Ouwerkerk, on the other hand, has designed a creative light accessory that is entirely 3D-printed and includes an intelligent central bulb that “magically” levitates above the base, defying gravity.

For the base of the lamp, Ouwerkerk printed a simple ring with a cutout on its side for plugging in a DC barrel jack. From there, he added an Arduino Nano Every that is responsible for controlling a strip of four WS2812B RGB LEDs and sensing if the bulb has been placed into its off position. When the bulb isn’t resting on top of the base, its top magnet gets attracted to the other magnet, which faces down from the top of the lamp and helps pull it upwards for the floating effect.

As seen in Ouwerkerk’s demo video below, the lamp produces a wide range of diffused colors while appearing as an elegant display piece. You can read more about this project and check out its design files on Instructables.