Kolahoops are a variety of super bright customizable LED hoops. Made with 1" high density polyethylene (HDPE) tubing, a vibration-suppression system(foam-lining) and rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries. These hoops are made to take a beating!

Kickstarter Goal:

The goal for this Kickstarter project is to manufacture and ship our first batch of 20 Galaxy hoops. If we are able to sell the equivalent of 200 Galaxy hoops, we will redesign all the electronics and have them manufactured smaller and lighter than we can do by hand.

Why KolaHoops?

Our Kolahoops are designed to make sure that our friends could get the best product for the price and now we are offering the same deal to you. We took the extra time to make sure that our hoops are durable and won't break with normal use. The integrated micro-controller has plenty of room for tons of extra patterns and color schemes. Seamless design to help prevent water from damaging your products and a special attachment for storage to keep condensation from building up inside the hoop.

• Long lasting rechargeable battery
• Ultra-Bright LEDs
• Seamless design
• Vibration-Suppression System

Technical Specifications:

*All hoops are measured by the inner diameter.

Sun Hoop:

• High and low brightness settings.

• 60 single color LEDs per meter -160 LEDs in a 36" hoop.

• 3X 3600mah Li-Ion rechargeable batteries.

• 1" Outer diameter semi-transparent HDPE tubing.

• Weight: 20 oz.

Echo Hoop:

• Internal micro-controller and microphone

• Fades and strobes to the beat of the music

• 60 single color LEDs per meter - 160 in a 36" hoop.

• 3X 3600mah Li-Ion rechargeable batteries.

• 1" Outer diameter semi-transparent HDPE tubing.

• Weight: 22 oz.

Galaxy Hoop:

• Teensy++ 2.0 micro-controller with LSM303 compass/accelerometer, IR receiver, and USB support

• 32 RGB LEDs per meter - 96 LEDs in a 36" hoop

• 2X 3600mah Li-ion rechargeable batteries.

• 1" Outer diameter semi-transparent HDPE tubing.

• Weight: 20 oz.

The Galaxy hoop used in the video is the final version of our prototype. The micro-controller is programmed with code that is adapted from other Open-Source projects. Code can be updated through the Arduino(R)(TM) environment using the USB port located near the power switch. The code interfaces with the accelerometer, compass, and communications hardware. It polls the sensors, generates the image to be displayed based on our pattern and then communicates the image to the driver chips and associated LEDs. For more info, see our code fork on Github @ http://goo.gl/0pZUj. We are in the process of creating more patterns to add to our robust collection. The hoops will ship with software version 1.0 and require no setup out of the box. All hoops are balanced with their internal components for the best possible hooping experience.

**ALL hoops are lined with foam to absorb impacts.**

Operating the hoop:

To turn the Galaxy on squeeze and gently twist the area where the tubes meet until they are detached. Inside there is a power switch and USB port. Turn the switch on and close the hoop. Seal with tape for extra protection(but not needed for regular use). The first setting is fast demo mode which cycles through patterns every 3 seconds with 3/4 second transition times. The accompanying remote control or BLUETOOTH interface for Android(R)(TM) allows you to switch patterns, color scheme, brightness, pattern switch speed, and transition speed.

Charging:

All hoops are powered by Lithium Ion batteries that can be recharged using the charger that is shipped with every hoop. Turn hoop OFF BEFORE charging. Lights will turn ALL GREEN when the hoop is fully charged.

Special Features:

After staying up late working on code for the Galaxy hoop, Max had the idea of using Persistence of Vision to create a pattern with the effect of writing letters and shapes in the air! After just a couple hours, we had implemented a 96 character keyboard that we could manipulate to display words and sentences! Every Galaxy hoop comes programmed with your name and 10 words of your choosing as well as all of the other patterns. But, because it is Open-source you can download and run your own custom software using a modified Arduino(R)(TM) environment.

All pictures are of hoops we created using long exposure pictures taken with a Canon Rebel XSi(R)(TM) and a couple Android(R)(TM) phones. We knew the concentric geometric patterns would look awesome, but we were so amazed that we are starting a section for our artwork on postcards, t-shirts, and posters.

Project History:

This project began when our friend Shannon came to us with her broken LED hoop. Once we looked at it we decided not only could we fix it, but we could also improve upon the design. The outcome was our very first prototype, a single color hoop with 75 hand-soldered LEDs that operated on two AAA batteries. The hoops looked great but we wanted to take it to the next level. This lead us to our discovery of digitally addressable LED strips. We purchased one meter from an online retailer and started playing with the code. After drawing up a few circuit boards for an atmega328 in an open-source CAD program we etched them on to blank PCB boards using a laser printer. The initial prototype for the galaxy was born. We wanted more ways to interact with our new toy, so with a few more wires, and a bit of code we added an accelerometer, compass, EEPROM and remote-control. At this point we exceeded the capabilities of the atmega328 micro-controller. Minimum requirements were not being met for RAM, program storage space, and processing power. Our best option was the teensy2.0++(R)(TM), which added native USB support. This allowed us to use more complex math and produce a higher frame-rate to create more interesting patterns and designs!

In testing we have been extra abusive on the hoops to find and improve their weaknesses. We even accidentally left the hoop used in the video out in the rain overnight! Although we do not recommend it, the hoop still works!

Prior Experience:

Pete is currently in the Computer Information Studies program at Northwestern Connecticut Community College. He has been a cook all of his life and he hopes this will be first of many projects that lead him to his field of choice, computing. Max was born using a computer and has always been taking apart and reppurposing electronics. Together we have worked on many projects, and this is the first that we felt had potential as a product.

Special Thanks:

The music for our video was graciously given to us by HavocNdeeD http://goo.gl/oP6oJ