Sun Drops

Powered by a solar panel, this drawing machine releases four colors onto paper, each corresponding to the relative percentage of the current ambient light

Sun Drops was created in a collaboration with Andres Franco.

We wanted to take something invisible and make it visible: sunlight. We pondered the vast variety of sunlight, contrasting how we, as humans, perceive it with its true complexity. We considered its different manifestations throughout the day and under various circumstances.

C++, Arduino, Servo Motors

Physical computing, Solar energy, Kinetic energy

April 2024

Using an RGB sensor, a microcontroller, four servo motors, four bottles of paint, and four hoses, we created a mechanical painting sculpture that drops four colors onto a paper sheet based on their relative percentage of the current ambient light. This sculpture utilizes a solar panel and battery to power the microcontroller and motors, employs gravity to release the paint onto the paper, and harnesses wind as an input for the random movement of the paper sheet.