Inspiration

I bought this cute plastic bird-shaped colour changing light from Tiger (the best shop in the world). I wanted to make something with it!

What it does

Whenever somebody tweets with #HackSussex it lights up in Twitter-blue!

How I built it

Node.js app listens to a stream from the Twitter api and when it receives a tweet, sends a random signal over serial to the arduino, running a sketch that flashes the light on when it receives anything over serial.

Challenges I ran into

I initially wanted to light up the bird when I got a Mac OS notification but the sqlite database containing all of the notifications was total nonsense, so I have up on that idea. Also somebody said the bird looked like the Twitter logo.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I must get the award for laziest hack, right?

What I learned

Don't go out the night before a hack. Sleep is the most powerful programming tool!

What's next for twit bird

Use the arduino serial rgb led control software I made ages ago instead of this rubbish method. Also get a cuter bow.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates