Build Ball
Portable, glowing ball that gives on-call engineers a heads up when something breaks.
Features
- 24 hour battery life, charges with micro USB
- Lightweight, weighs ~200 grams
![Shots of the build ball around Cadre HQ, New York, NY.](/static/9e1376e1cf8f7a57c360405c2cc5570b/0d7c5/build-ball-crop-1.jpg)
![Shots of the build ball around Cadre HQ, New York, NY.](/static/f8b378f20675b18a0f8513c829c8aa2c/d1ac9/build-ball-crop-2.jpg)
![Shots of the build ball around Cadre HQ, New York, NY.](/static/90b211a69ef10605dfbd96d6ee6a477a/6e289/build-ball-red-office-slack.png)
Image 1 of 3 — Shots of the build ball around Cadre HQ, New York, NY.
Parts List
- Particle Photon microcontroller
- Flexible RGB LED strip
- 100mm clear plastic ball; sanded down and sprayed with a matte finish for maximum light diffusion
Firmware
- Written in C++
- On bootup: device establishes a connection to local wifi and enters main loop
- Loop logic pings Jenkins build system and updates LED lights accordingly
Light sequences
Light sequences were programmed using the DAC (digital to analog converter) to drive the color-changing LEDs.
mode | pattern | color |
---|---|---|
nominal | slowly pulsing sine wave | green |
error | sharp pulsing saw wave | red |
low battery | periodic double blip | red |
acquiring wifi | even flashing square wave | blue |