UNICORN AND RAINBOW

Sentimental artifacts, heirlooms, and personal belongings—displayed in homes—represent a person’s identity and social world. But a lot of these things are not meant to be integrated in ubiquitous computing environments. This project presents the unicorn, a tangible interface to control the ambient light in the Living Place Lab. For this purpose, we purchased a vintage porcelain horse on the flea market and upcycled it with conductive components, such as a screw. When a user touches the unicorn’s horn, a microcontroller interprets the touch and publishes a message to the home automation environment to activate the rainbow lighting. In addition, a neo pixel LED provides a user’s feedback directly on the artifact.

Design & Implementation: Jessica Broscheit
Integration into the Smart Home Environment: Fabian Erdmann
Photo & Video Documentation: Jessica Broscheit