Cage of Thoughts is a work of art based on the human brain. The artwork is a large steel construction in the shape of a brain. Within the brain, nerves are represented by means of LED strips. Besides LED strips, spots are placed in the brain to illuminate parts of the brain. By attaching different lights to the brain, it is possible to create interaction in different ways. Cage of Thoughts has been designed and realized by students participating in Fontys Minor BeCreative.
Mechanical design
The steel shape is expected to have a weight of 214.5kg. To make the structure look like a brain, rods were added (by welding) to the mainframe. These rods provide both a nice shape for the brain and also solidity for the construction. The construction consists of several sub parts to enable easy transportation and assembly. The new design is 50% lighter than the initial design, more stable, and aesthetically pleasing.
In our design we took the transportation and assembly requirements of the Brain into account. We decided to laser cut the stainless steel parts (accuracy is in the range of +/- 1 millimeters). To ensure that the construction is symmetrical, the ends of the steel parts were designed as “puzzle pieces” that must fall into each other. This will enable easy assembling of the Brain frame.
Electrical design
We redesigned both the hardware and software of the prototype created by the previous team. The Teensy microcontroller was replaced by an ESP32. The board that drives the LEDs has been designed with compatibility in mind. The idea being that it can be used by future GLOW groups.
The initial version of the light show for Glow is programmed in Python. With the underlying Art-Net (DMX over IP), we can send the signals between the computer running and the MCU. This Art-Net library in Python was provided by previous team. The downside was that it could not be used for multiple LED strips. We upgraded this library for use with multiple LED strips.
Conclusion
We redesigned the existing prototype into an artwork that has the potential to be displayed at Glow 2021. The concepts of all subsystems were proven. All the parts for the Brain shape are currently being produced. The next team will need to assemble the final installation, test the complete system, design and connect the wireless touch sensors, initial concept available, to the Cage of Thoughts.