Similar but older, Walt Disney World and Disneyland started selling Glow With The Show Ears in 2012. They were IR controlled and synced with several of their live performances. Unfortunately, they didn’t really catch on. Probably in part because of the additional cost of an already expensive souvenir. They started with just Mickey Ears but later added additional items and most importantly a “wand” that could control them at home. Another reason I think they failed was the wand took more than a year (maybe 2) to come out which limited the functionality outside of the shows. Although they did sync with other “Ears” near them (my daughter being significantly shorter than the rest of the family would often fall out of sync)/
Well before the “wands” were released, fans figured out they could be controlled with a simple reprogrammable TV remote. There are teardowns on the internet, but basically, they have IR receivers and broadcasters, and LEDs and are powered by 4 AAA batteries. I knew they were finished when I could longer buy AAA batteries in the parks. Some even more industrious fans made IR blasters and synced with their Christmas displays.
My family bought and wore them for years including last year when we went back. They don’t sync with much anymore, but it’s still fun. I have been meaning to build an IR blaster to control them since back then. I’ve only recently actually started to build LED displays and the like. I want to add them to my “Tiki Bar” where I have my wLED lights installed and sync them. I think I will have to get xLights up and running first though. I also plan to install an RFID reader (through Home Assistant) to read the Magic Bands that may soon be obsolete.
This is very interesting on what you’ve discovered. It opens up some great light control possibilities where WiFi or Bluetooth aren’t an option. I’m surprised that the ears and wrist bands aren’t encoded to work only with the manufacturers equipment. I’ll try my Brits wristband with a universal remote and see if I can breathe life back into it.
I look forward to seeing your project develop. Please keep us updated…
i can share an idea. the process can be divided in 3 steps
first the integration of the bands into the mesh or where ever they are connected to, it can be done with just turning the bands on in an specific location.
the main station controling the bands will know there are bands in the mesh but will not know where, here comes the step 2.
use a secondary software to do image/video processing, the main station just send an order for the bands to blink (for example) and then an ai will sort the bands after scanning the video
with the location of the bands the main software can just send the corresponding order to the band, does not matter if the fan moves around, the secondary software will keep track of their location (as best as possible)
any thoughts? i hope i made myself clear, i love this new pixel driver honestly, i just need a esp32 with ethernet though for reliability
I wouldn’t say it’s dropped. For me personally I have a lot of other smaller projects to get to first before this one, including improving the general 2D mapping that would be required for a project like this. I think a lot of WLED devs - myself included - post a lot more on Discord. There’s a 2D chat channel on Discord, and the WLED Soundreactive fork has their own rectangular-focused 2D implementation that’s been more actively worked on recently than mine (supporting both rectangular and arbitrary locations): WLED (link expires in 7 days)
You should join the WLED Discord, I post most often in the #2d channel. There’s been brief discussion on adding Bluetooth, but you should know the library costs a lot of flash, and WLED fills the flash on the normal ESP32 devices so you’ll have to get a part with upgraded flash. If you don’t want to join the discord, email me: hello@pixelmatix.com
(And no I haven’t gotten any further on this idea, but do want to pick it up again soon)
