While learning how to use the Adafruit Circuit playground (to be used in workshops), I decided to work on an idea submitted by my son… how about creating a small bedside lamp based using the Circuit Playground.

The basic idea is rather simple… build a hollow cube made of acrylic layers (each layer 5 mm thick) and put the Circuit Playground at the bottom to make colored light within the translucent cube.

The Circuit Playground’s sensors would then be used to change the brightness and the color of the light. Tilt the lamp in a specific direction to change the R,G,B values of the leds or their brightness. Tap the lamp to turn it on or off… pretty simple and effective as this way of working does not require buttons or connections outside of the acrylic cube (well we still need to be able to power the Circuit Playground through USB).

Here are a few pictures of the steps we followed while building the final lamp.

Cut the Acrylic for the cube

Acrylic Cut Acrylic Cut 2

Prepare the plywood to hold the Circuit Playground

Plywood Bottom Plywood Circuit

Put it all together

Stacking Bottom Assembly

First attempt at complete assembly

Unsanded Top View

Sanding the top layer

Sanding Top Layer Sanded

Final result in two colors

White Lamp Sanded