dodecahedron

This is by far the biggest project I ever had.
I made this one for my a levels.

Its a 12 sided shape (dodecahedron) each side has its individual RGB led and can display any color. Every LED is seperately controlled, and a variety of effects are possible. Effects are not really visible in a picure, so I tried to give an example of the color variety.

I made a whole book where I describe the process of creating it, including pictures, a work diary, detailed explenation etc. And also a big presentation, including a video of the building process.

The whole thing is controlled by 3 Atmega8L Microcontrollers, I programmed in assembler from scratch. I get a lot of critique using assembler, but I'm using it several years now and I really dont feel any limits. I bet my code is a lot more efficient than most of the C code out there.

It is verry easy to include new effects, I included various smooth/hard color changing effects, fades, strobes..

The sad part is, that I wanted to have a wireless connection between dodecahedron and remote control, but it failed for no visible reason, after 80 hours of trying I gave up. Maybe because the datasheets were japanese?

It has a ton of features that are worth mentioning, like an intelligent sound to light system, acceleration sensor controlled programs, or the remote control, however I cant get in too much in detail right here.

Raw Building time: 140 hours+
Complete building time + documentation etc.: nearly 400 hours
heigh: 100mm
Material: Light dispersing acrylic glass, 3mm
Displayable independent colors: 32768
Color update frequency: >30 updates/sec
System Clock: 8 MHz
Approximated amount of different storeable effects : 50
Special sensors: 3D Acceleration sensor +-6G
Power surce: Internal rechargeable batteries, 3,6 V 2100 mAh
Total battery life: 6-10 hours