ELVIS Ambient light is a light concept that introduces a new way of interacting with lights, emphasizing on touch, to battle digital ways of interacting. Ambient lights stimulate mood, ELVIS aims at providing a multi sensory ambient experience by creating a new user - product relationship. ELVIS was the finalist at LAMP 2016 design competition and winner of Industrial design distinction award at Taipei International Design Award 2016.
ELVIS works by sliding the front panel up to increase brightness and sliding it down to dim it down. Elvis can be placed anywhere on the wall, but it's primary position would be somewhere close to the bed, where one can use maximum brightness for reading and minimum brightness as a night lamp.
I tested out the sliding mechanism by trying it out on ABS plastic. 4mm plastic sheets were cut and bent by hand using heat gun and pressure. The results weren't so promising as the plastic would warp.
After experimenting, I moved on to making ELVIS come to life. I used scrap aluminium from a car's custom spoiler. After cutting and bending it, I fixed a plastic housing to it, to make place for the LEDS. And finally an Arduino Uno to power and program it.
I used an Arduino to program the circuit. I was assisted by a very good friend of mine, and after we made all the necessary connections, the circuit was ready. We used LED strip to simulate the OLED panel. The actual model, if ever made would be much thinner, due to OLED thickness and by reducing the circuit size to a microchip.
Yes, it was very messy
And yes, it works. The potentiometer value is programmed to work in symmetry with the brightness of the light.
