A Persistence of Vision (POV) globe is cool enough on its own, displaying a spherical image, but one user decided to make it even better by turning it into a mini Death Star.
Jason Hotchkiss came up with the project. He describes it in his own words:
I’ve wanted to make a “globe POV” for a while after seeing a totally amazing hi-res one on YouTube a while back. The mechanical side of it (motor drive and power supply) always put me off a bit – while I think I can design a PCB and feel pretty confident it’s going to work, motors, gears and bearings are still a matter of kludge and guesswork for me.
Here it is in a video below:
The whole thing use 23 LEDs attached to an Arduino board. In the video, the globe shows a view of the Earth before transforming into the Death Star. Good thing there wasn’t a miniature Alderran nearby! Finally, the machine stops to reveal the optical illusion that it’s just a flat board with lights on it.
If you like this, you might want to check out an R2-D2 lunch bag and a realistic sculpture of Yoda.
Source: Hack A Day
