Pixel looks like a mirror that could be found at any suburban furniture store, but behind its two-way glass are 1,024 little lights that can be controlled by an Android device.
This 32 by 32 matrix of addressable RGB LEDs can dynamically display full-color pixel art, animations, or Jenny Holzer-esqe affirmations to those who gaze into its augmented reality reflection. Developed by Al Linke and Ytai Ben-Tsvi, the goal of the project was to give artists a digital canvas upon which they could create, without needing to wade into the world of soldering irons or Raspberry Pis.
"I'd done a few LED DIY projects in the past and have found LEDs to be a really nice medium for art," says Linke. "But even with tools like Arduino, doing a project like this is still very difficult for a non technical person. Our vision was to create something a completely non-technical person like an artist could do and require zero code and zero circuit wiring. The artist can focus solely on his/her art and then simply upload the art from his/her Android device."
8-bit Botticellis can create their own art with a a simple touch screen app, or curate images and GIFs from the Pixel collection. Five artists were commissioned to produce a gallery of pre-made pixel art, reflecting everything from mermaids to QR codes, but even designs pulled from the web will work.
For those that want to become Pixel patrons there are two options, a fully assembled mirror/frame that costs $229 and and a kit that features a board, microcontroller, and apps for $149 (not bad considering AdaFruit is selling a version of the LED matrix for $119.95).
Next steps for the product include new style options for the frame and all important iOS support. The code that powers Pixel is open source making all sorts of cool hacks possible — imagine putting a camera behind the two-way mirror that would show a person's lo-res reflection as they approached.
Pixel has already reached its funding goal on Kickstarter, released 10 compatible apps on Google Play, and will be ready to ship in April according to its creators when we will get the final answer to the age-old question, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is geekiest of them all?"
Photos: Al Linke
