Cylon Pumpkin

A craft foam pumpkin with a dense 144-pixel-per-meter NeoPixel strip that shows a scanning "Cylon eye" effect.

Source book: Moving Rainbow
Kit page: https://dmccreary.github.io/moving-rainbow/kits/cylon-pumpkin/
Printable one-pager: cylon-pumpkin-one-pager.html

Features

• Uses the Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040
• Uses the WS2812B NeoPixels

Benefits

• Free, open lessons: the Moving Rainbow textbook has the kit page, wiring, and MicroPython code.
• Classroom friendly: built on a solderless breadboard or no-solder connectors.
• Budget: about $24 (pumpkin $10, LED strip $10, Pico $3.99).

Parts

• Raspberry Pi Pico ($4) — Microcontroller
• WS2812B NeoPixels — LEDs
• 830-Point Breadboard ($1.10) — Breadboard
• Micro-USB Data Cable ($2.50) — Power and programming cable