Cube.Lite

We, the team behind Cube Lite, set off wanting to make an aesthetically pleasing and visually and auditorily engaging project. Along the journey of creating Cube Lite, we wanted to challenge ourselves in the spaces of mechanical, software, and electrical engineering. Through practicing rapid prototyping, modular electrical and firmware design, and continuous integration, Cube Lite became a reality.

Cube Lite is an LED cube that responds to the music of your choosing. All six faces of the cube are LED matrices, which light up according to the music using beat detection. The cube is balanced on one of its vertices and spins for the ultimate visual display. Cube Lite is the perfect addition to any music-lover's room and is sure to light up the day.

For a more detailed description of how Cube Lite functions, refer to the different subsystem pages found in the Menu. All code and CAD files can be found on our Github repository.

In the diagram above, the integration of all of Cube Lite's components can be seen. Everything is powered by the laptop which is connected by USB cables to the two Arduinos. One Arduino is connected to the LED matrices while the other is connected to the motor. Besides providing power, the laptop is also using Processing and the Minim library to play and analyze music in real time. The results of this analysis are communicated over Serial to the top Arduino, which controls the patterns displayed on the LED matrices using these audio analysis results and the NS_Rainbow Arduino library.

All three of the boxes in Cube Lite are made of acrylic, allowing viewers to see the inner workings of the project. The cube has LED matrices mounted to all six of its faces, which are connected to the Arduino in the middle box. The cube is mounted on a 3D printed piece to allow it to balance on a vertex. This mount and the vertex it holds both have holes in them to allow the wires to travel from the matrices to the Arduino that controlls them. As can also be seen through the acrylic, the bottom box houses a second Arduino attached to the motor. This motor rotates 180º in both directions, causing the entire middle box and cube to spin. This back and forth motion allows the USB cable attaching the upper Arduino and the laptop not to tangle.