Hey all, im excited to start working on a light again, im between a couple different ideas right now, im not sure theyre all realistic but its what im thinking of right now:
- an EDC sized reflex reflector based rectangle light
- using some HDD platters and a waterjet i could cut small hexagons and create a JWST style reflector for an sbt90 or alike
- a dual/quadruple UHP bulb spotlight
- a dorm mounted LEP which tracks my position with a motorized base - using CV probably which will be tough at night
- a self machined light, probably a 2s light with a fresnel lens
- an autonomous RC boat with a strong water-facing LED that could be used for long exposure artwork in my local lake
6 Thanks
I’m starting to work on building the tracking spotlight. I’ve done an initial test using my laptop and webcam to do computer vision based tracking, everything else should be standard.
It will be a raspi 4, Playstation 3 eye camera (for an easy IR camera), 2 high strength servos, a sft40 and Fresnel lens and a NIR led and reflector.
I will wear a retro reflective patch, the light will start at a neutral “home” position, once I step into the home location the IR light will reflect off the retro reflector and be picked up by the camera and give it a target to track.
The spotlight will be mounted to a DIY gimbal with a 4:1 gear ratio to give me a range of roughly 40 degrees.
My only concerns are the ease of building this all by hand, and the infrared that will be shining into my eyes to track my position. Otherwise this seems doable.
I haven’t decided if I should do the tightest spot possible or if I should get a initial lens so I can project a larger round spot (like a stage light)
2 Thanks
Sounds interesting, Good luck with the build!
i have two options for tracking:
A. computer vision with an IR camera, flashlight, and retroreflector and it will only work at a set height
B. 4 modules that can measure the distance from eachother, 1 in my dorm, two setup somewhere outside, 1 on me. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801389358822.html as seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajKES2dd5BM. these have a 130m range, although i dont know if they can measure distance from 3 different boards at once
Feast your eyes on my side project for I have not yet begun this main build
(I will try order parts tomorrow but I leave university for winter break soon and will lose access to all my tooling)
(As a backup I’ll prepare parts for a more basic machine made flashlight as well as the pictured side project. I will enter something but it might not be the coolest build I’m working on)
ordered the parts for a fresnel thrower + the tracking spotlight, well see what i can finish first/have more fun working on
while i wait ive been working on this lamp some more
this is the LED ring, all the filament LEDs will be connected in parralel around this ring, the floating copper wire will connect the battery positive (mounted on the opposite side of the lamp) and the battery negative will be brought to the charger board.
had i better planned this i couldve fit everything on one side and maybe made it look cooler, but it wouldve required as much wiring
