Express Yourself! Create Images & Light Them Up with the MagicShifter 3000 POV Stick

“Made with love and fairy dust.” The persistence of vision stick offers exactly what its name would infer, but it doesn’t really make sense until you see it in action, offering a very technical term in title for a whimsical device that does almost seem to operate as a sleight of hand or illusion. And while it has indeed been quite a journey to bring the MagicShifter 3000 into the realm of mere earthlings eager for the technology, the tiny device is now in production after 15 long years of development in Europe, where prototype units have already been available for some time. The design and shape have gone through quite an evolution, resulting in a streamlined and small device that allows you to light up cool images of your choice.

Meant for red-green-blue (RGB) lighting, gaming, and all applications pertaining to POV, this stick is made up of 16 vivid LEDS that allow you to draw images in the air. The MagicShifter is a slim piece of open-source hardware that might be pocket-sized, but offers quite the light show and will definitely draw some attention too. This is a great way to take the emoji or romantic gesture to another level, just waving the stick and allowing the light show to express how you feel with a heart, smiley face, or other images that you can upload.

And if you’re in need of a small lamp, this IoT gadget will certainly offer some special effects as a bonus too. Charged by USB, all you have to do is shake the POV stick to begin seeing images. While it can be controlled easily either from your smartphone or computer via WiFi, it will still function offline as well.

“In contrast to other POV gadgets, the image is stabilized with the accelerometer data and displays the image in both directions,” states the website.

The company has also created a new web interface for the POV stick. This allows you numerous functions like:

• Uploading
• Painting images
• Sharing images
• Changing settings
• Connecting with other users and exchanging art

If you are interested in playing around with the ‘robust hardware design’ or working to improve on it, the open-source design lets you fiddle with the programming to your own heart’s delight.

“If anything goes wrong you can always reflash our official firmware,” states the MagicShifter team.

Further specifications are as follows:

• Fully assembled and tested PCB 99 x 24 mm
• ESP8266 32-Bit/80MHz microcontroller with integrated WiFi
• 16 bright RGB LEDs
• 3-Axis accelerometer
• 3-Axis magnetometer/compass
• 4MB flash memory
• 400mAh LiPo rechargeable via USB
• 3x buttons
• Programmable via USB serial and WiFi interface
• AGPL licensed firmware & web frontend
• CC BY-NC licensed hardware design
• 3D printed case 103 x 27 x 13 mm

The MagicShifter is Arduino friendly and features a 3D printed enclosure that takes the team about an hour to complete at their HackerSpaceShop, where you can also purchase this ‘digital magical wonderland’ online for €69.00 (translating to just a little over $77 USD). You can also find the firmware and 3D printable enclosure open-source files at Github. And for an example of the POV stick in action, check out the video below. Also, discuss this device further over in the POV Stick with 3D Printed Enclosure forum over at 3DPB.com.

[Sources: Hackaday; MagicShifter]