CubeeFun Designer:
BrixPlay Co.
Contact: Eugene Tsai, gene@brixplay.com
U.S.A.
Contact: Irene Chen, irene.chen@lumimaxusa.com
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Floating Fountains
By using foam materials as a floating mechanism, the CubeeFun Nozzle-LED-Pump module can float on the water.
The First CubeeFun Workshop
Cubee4 Creator Kits can be used to set up a workshop for people to enjoy the fun of building a fountain.
The first trial workshop was accomplished in the 2013 Maker Faire Taipei, May 18-19.
The presented fountain kit was awarded as the Most Creative Works of the 2013 Maker Faire Taipei:
The first trial workshop was accomplished in the 2013 Maker Faire Taipei, May 18-19.
The workshop layout:
Set up construction tables:
Set up fountain tables:
Some demonstrative works:
Welcome the visitors:
Build your own fountains:
Move your fountain into water:
Then, play:
...and play:
It's fun to control the water-pumping:
The happy smiles:
The presented fountain kit was awarded as the Most Creative Works of the 2013 Maker Faire Taipei:
Friday, January 17, 2014
My Fountain - Using Single Kit
This is to demonstrate how easily one can build a fountain for fun using CubeeFun Nozzle-LED-Pump module.
Preparations:
Preparations:
- One player
- One CubeeFun Nozzle-LED-Pump module
- (the NLP module shown in the photo is a prototype version)
- One Cubee1 controller
- (prototype used here but not shown in the photo)
- Plastic water basin
- Some building blocks
Ready:
Go:
Stack LEGO Duplo brick on the pump:
Stack more bricks:
Put the Nozzle-LED cube on the top:
"Hm...how about adding a dinosaur..."
Add water, connect power, turn on the LED and pump. Yeh...
"This is my Dinosaur Fountain!"
"My dinosaur likes the fountain I built."
Take a look:
CubeeFun Connections and Extensions
By selecting the DMX (Digital Multiplexer) lighting control standard for controlling the LED's and pumps, CubeeFun is connected to the professional communities of DMX and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). Both hardware and software of DMX and MIDI industries become the valid resources to facilitate the content creation of CubeeFun, and make the authoring of musical water dancing an interesting activity.
In addition, the CubeeFun controller hardware is made of open source Arduino controller, which can also be easily linked to Google Android Apps.
CubeeFun connects to the communities of Arduino open source, Google Android app, MIT Android App Inventor, makers, entrepreneurs, and more.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Creator Kit
The Cubee4, a creator's kit, consists of 4 Nozzle-LED-Pump modules, one 16-channel CubeeFun Controller, and one AC-to-DC electric power adaptor.
In order to control the 4 RGB LED's and 4 pumps, a 16-channel CubeeFun Controller is required.
Top view of the controller:
The Controller can be operated in the following 3 modes:
1. Dimmer mode - the brightness of LED and water-pumping can be control thru the slide switches like a dimmer. The color of 4 LED's can be set independently or simultaneously. The water-pumping strength of the 4 pumps can also be controlled independently, and hence control the heigh of the water out from the fountain nozzles.
2. DMX Controller mode - by using a PC-based FreeShare lighting control software (FreeStyler DMX 512), the 16-channel CubeeFun Controller functions as a DMX lighting controller and translates the control commands sent by the FreeStyler thru USB cable. The 16 channels are assigned with 16 DMX addresses, which associate to the red/green/blue of the 4 LED's and the 4 pumps, and could be controlled/programmed with FreeStyler to perform professional lighting and water dancing show.
3. DMX Fixture mode - in this mode, the CubeeFun is now a 16-channel DMX device (fixture) with a selectable starting DMX address, and will be controlled by other professional DMX controller and software to perform the lighting and water dancing show. More than one CubeeFun controller can be serially connected thru DMX cables and form a fountain with 8/12/16 nozzles and more. By doing this, the player can create his fountain artworks with as many nozzles as he wants.
With Cubee4, one can create more interesting fountains with 4 LED lighting bricks and 4 nozzles. Below are some examples of fountain creations.
Through professional DMX lighting control software, the MIDI keyboard or input device can also be connected to control the fountain pumps and facilitate a live musical water-dancing show.
In order to control the 4 RGB LED's and 4 pumps, a 16-channel CubeeFun Controller is required.
Top view of the controller:
Top and back panels:
The Controller can be operated in the following 3 modes:
1. Dimmer mode - the brightness of LED and water-pumping can be control thru the slide switches like a dimmer. The color of 4 LED's can be set independently or simultaneously. The water-pumping strength of the 4 pumps can also be controlled independently, and hence control the heigh of the water out from the fountain nozzles.
2. DMX Controller mode - by using a PC-based FreeShare lighting control software (FreeStyler DMX 512), the 16-channel CubeeFun Controller functions as a DMX lighting controller and translates the control commands sent by the FreeStyler thru USB cable. The 16 channels are assigned with 16 DMX addresses, which associate to the red/green/blue of the 4 LED's and the 4 pumps, and could be controlled/programmed with FreeStyler to perform professional lighting and water dancing show.
3. DMX Fixture mode - in this mode, the CubeeFun is now a 16-channel DMX device (fixture) with a selectable starting DMX address, and will be controlled by other professional DMX controller and software to perform the lighting and water dancing show. More than one CubeeFun controller can be serially connected thru DMX cables and form a fountain with 8/12/16 nozzles and more. By doing this, the player can create his fountain artworks with as many nozzles as he wants.
With Cubee4, one can create more interesting fountains with 4 LED lighting bricks and 4 nozzles. Below are some examples of fountain creations.
CubeeFun Single Kit
The CubeeFun Single Kit is a single fountain kit for basic fountain construction and control. The kit contains:
- NLP module x1
- Cubee1 controller x1
(An Arduino/Leonardo controller with 6-channel PWM outputs)
- Bluetooth module x1
- 9VDC battery holder x1
- Water tubes x3
The 6 PWM output channels are used to drive 1 DC pump, the red/green/blue color of the LED brick, as well as two 2 servos, which are optional for titling the direction of nozzle.
The CubeeFun Single Kit is good for construct one-nozzle fountain. The complete wiring of the Kit is shown below:
The Cubee1 controller can be accessed by other devices, e.g. LEGO Mindstorms EV3 and smart phone, through bluetooth wireless communication. The details of how to control the Cubee1 through bluetooth communication is described in the following document:
Cubee1 – Bluetooth Command Specifications
The example of using EV3 to control Cubee1:
Click EV3 example program to download.
The example of using Android smart phone to control Cubee1:
- NLP module x1
- Cubee1 controller x1
(An Arduino/Leonardo controller with 6-channel PWM outputs)
- Bluetooth module x1
- 9VDC battery holder x1
- Water tubes x3
The Single Kit package
The 6 PWM output channels are used to drive 1 DC pump, the red/green/blue color of the LED brick, as well as two 2 servos, which are optional for titling the direction of nozzle.
The Cubee1 controller
The Single Kit wiring
The Cubee1 controller can be accessed by other devices, e.g. LEGO Mindstorms EV3 and smart phone, through bluetooth wireless communication. The details of how to control the Cubee1 through bluetooth communication is described in the following document:
Cubee1 – Bluetooth Command Specifications
The example of using EV3 to control Cubee1:
Using EV3 to control Cubee1
Click EV3 example program to download.
The example of using Android smart phone to control Cubee1:
Click QB_wave.apk to down and install it in your Android smart phone to try.
The conceptual diagram of Single Kit:
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