Brainstorming: Interactive Glowing Garden

Going to the Maker Faire last weekend was a really big help with inspiration for new project ideas. Seeing the work of the talented Ben Hencke made me think about the visual appeal of LEDs and how much I enjoy things that glow, especially in interesting and colorful patterns.

Main Street Electrical parade further proving my point that lights are fricken awesome

Source: usnews.com

I'm reminded of going to Disneyland as a kid and watching the Main Street Electrical Parade. I watched in awe as the parade floats, which were covered in hundreds and thousands of lights, rolled along to an electrifyingly upbeat baroque hoedown track (which gives me nostalgia chills just listening to it).

Source: twitter.com/disneylandtoday

Before the parade, Main Street vendors would sell glowing toys so the kids could have something to entertain them while they were waiting for the show to start. One of my favorite toys I ever got was a beautiful light-up glowing rose. Something about the simplicity of making a flower glow was just so visually striking. Plus I got to wave it around like a magic wand and feel pretty cool...until the batteries ran out.

 Sources: aliexpress.com, dhgate.com, thisiscolossal.com

So, I was thinking it'd be really fun to recreate this whimsical magical experience by making a sort of "garden" full of glowing plant-like elements. But not only that, the garden is also interactive; like a nature "control panel," but instead of buttons and knobs, it's glowing flowers, mushrooms, leaves, bugs, etc.

Think this except more... planty.

Source: darinhiggins.com

Basically, input from the user would affect the patterns of lights and sound that the garden would make. Garden elements would be made out of a sort of fabric or plastic material (or paper if I decide to be cheap, but that's not really durable); something would easily compliment the glowing LEDs. Could throw in some fiber optic grass to be extra fancy. (Side note: I totally had a fiber optic magic wand from Disney too)

Flowers could be mounted on a potentiometer to be rotated by the user to fine adjust the spectrum or color palette. Users could gently tap on mushrooms like drums, or touch a colorful vine to make tranquil piano sounds (each element using pressure sensors). Other touch-sensitive elements can trigger a flurry of blinking LEDs and/or whimsical, magical sounds. Basically, I want to offer people a fun and pretty playground that is both relaxing and enjoying to play with. This augmentation of the garden flowers and plants allows users to interact with them, which promotes a connection and appreciation for nature. 

Nature is something I really enjoy and appreciate, and sometimes I feel like we don't take enough time to stop and smell the flowers. I feel that this would be a cool way to remind people of the beauty and magic that nature brings to our world. 

Also I'm not a hippie, I swear.