MakerBot Industries

See that compact grid of 36 white LEDs in the picture? It’s called the openVolver. Just about the size of a wrestler’s fist, the openVolver can store thousands of animation patterns on a memory card that you can design individually on just about any computer.

Friends, this is no ordinary blinky project.  Those 36 LEDs are diffused, have 255 levels of thumb-wheel controlled brightness, run on a single 9V battery and can be worn on a lanyard (oh, you’ll be noticed).  We’ve already included 59 separate animations with intriguing names like ‘edgewerks‘,  ’snuggles_butts‘ and ‘4 drunks‘. I’ll give you a hint on that last one, 4 friends (as LEDs of course) trying desperately to find each other in the night, but never quite pulling it off.

If you’re too modest to wear it on your chest, we’ve included a plexiglass faceplate that can turn it into a great desktop companion (it’s very easy to use with a DC power supply). And if you have access to a makerbot, we can’t wait to to see what kind of holders and cases you’ll upload to Thingiverse.

The openVolver comes as a kit that anyone with some modest soldering skills can build. To get a sense of it, take a look at the clearly laid out instructions and the animation software right here.

the openVolver is a lovely design by our very talented friends at the New York art collective Image Node . They’ve been making the openVolver in various incarnations and taking them to Burning Man for many years – so we know this Blinkytronic  can in the very least withstand playa dust.

So why wait? Go to the makerbot store and order one today!