A local Artists’ Collective approached us for an innovative and eye catching tech display for the window of a cafe and gallery they run.

We created a “Singing Windows”  sign – a 10 x 15 array of individually addressable LEDs each capable of being set to any one of 16 million colours. Users interact with it using Twitter. Tweets with the appropriate hashtag are analysed for content which is then used to display any number of shapes, flags, colours and special effects as well as to scroll messages.

Each panel comprises a string of 150 WS2812 LEDs arranged in a rectangular array and controlled using a Particle WiFi enabled IOT device.

A separate Python script running on a Virtual Machine on our servers back at base, continually monitors the Twittersphere for Tweets directed at the device and uploads them automatically to Singing Windows for analysis and display. This script makes use of the Twitter API and Requests library for Python.

The result is a display which is fun  for visitors and passers-by to interact with as well as a useful tool for the venue organisers to display important messages.

Click here to see a video of Singing Windows in action

Made by: Sam

Coding by: Charlie, Sean and Sam