A bright, portable, hackable, full-color LED light fixture, for use on stage, in exhibits, and in the classroom. This product will only be made if at least $50,000 is pledged by May 3, 2013.

The SaikoLED myki is a super bright, flexible, and high performance color changing LED light and educational platform with a built in microphone. It is designed from the ground up to be artist friendly, musician friendly, tinkerer friendly, and just generally… friendly.

Out of the box, it is audio responsive for light shows with music and voices. It can also be configured for color corrected and dynamic fades suitable for anything from artwork to ambiance using simple physical controls.

The myki is also well suited as a tool for learning programming, with an integrated microcontroller that can be programmed via the popular Arduino IDE. SaikoLED’s educational mission also means we give away our lights to schools, hackerspaces, and artists.

In addition to learning about software, the myki hardware is designed from the ground up to be hackable and comes with extensive educational information. Using either custom electronics or our own modules, you can easily add support for advanced features like DMX, WiFi, IR Remote controls, and sensors.

Among the unique features of the myki are the use of native HSI mode, color correction, a white LED for natural pastels, and 48-bit “Deep Color”, providing 281 trillion distinct colors — a typical display has only 16 million. These advanced options allow for otherwise impossibly precise control of color changing effects so that you can always get exactly the shade you need.

SaikoLED is also partnering with Nervous System to produce custom Shadow Makers. These devices let you project beautiful shadows from the myki light.

The Art Table uses a myki light fixture to create a standalone art piece, an attractive table, or display base for art pieces such as glasswork or sculptures. The Art Table can also be set to “psychedelic mode” where it synchronizes strobing lights with your brain frequency to conjure complex geometric patterns in your visual cortex.

“Wow, junior wasn’t supposed to see that till college!” remarked one parent at our last exhibition. It has to be seen to be believed!

Premiums & Pledge Levels

Backer: Our Love, It Comes Cheap! ($1)

Make a donation to support the myki LED Light.

Cosmic Backer: SaikoLED T-Shirt! ($22)

Receive a SaikoLED t-shirt available in sizes S-XL.

myki Early Bird Special ($79)

Receive one myki LED Light at an early bird price. Limited to the first 250 backers.

myki Limited Edition ($89)

Receive one myki LED Light at limited crowdfunding price. Limited to the first 750 backers.

myki Original ($99)

Receive one myki LED Light at a special crowdfunding price.

myki Shadow Maker ($220)

Receive a myki light with patterned shadow maker from Nervous System. Limited to the first 60 backers.

Art Table ($300)

Receive the Art Table Kit including one myki Light. This table can be used for anything from displaying artwork to creating geometric hallucinations! Limited to the first 100 backers.

3x3 myki Array ($900)

A 3 by 3 array of pre-mounted myki Lights. Perfect for mobile DJs and small art installations. Includes a chassis for mounting the lights along with a common power supply. Limited to the first 50 backers.

5x5 myki Array ($2,500)

A 5 by 5 array of pre-mounted myki Lights. Perfect for semi-permanent installations or clubs. Includes a chassis for mounting the lights along with a common power supply. Limited to the first 25 backers.

Educational Kit: 40 myki LED Lights ($5,000)

Perfect for educators, this premium is a set of 40 myki LED Lights with direct support for using them in an educational setting. We will help you set up computers to use in developing a curriculum appropriate for your students. Limited to the first 20 backers.

10x10 myki Array ($10,000)

A 10 by 10 array of pre-mounted myki Lights. Perfect for permanent installations. Includes a chassis for mounting the lights along with a common power supply. Limited to the first ten backers.

Manufacturing Plan

We are using Seeed Studios to produce the myki LED Light. We are estimating a production timeline of 3-6 months. Seeed Studios is a well regarded open hardware facilitator with a good reputation, so we do not anticipate any major issues working with them. At present, we have quotes in hand, so all we’re waiting for is enough orders to press the “go” button!

Shipping

Shipping is free within the US and Canada. For international shipping options, e-mail us your location and the pledge level you are interested in.

Risks & Challenges

The primary risk here is that this will be our first time doing a large manufacturing run. There are quite a few things that could potentially go wrong, but with Seeed Studios as a partner we are hopeful that we will have a good experience.

To help mitigate the risks, we have taken or will take a variety of important steps that any big company takes before a manufacturing run.

1. Know your Supplier -- Seeed Studios has a longstanding reputation as a high quality open hardware facilitator. We have been working with them for over a year on this project, and they have been consistently knowledgeable and responsive.
2. Deep Failure Mode Analysis -- Before the light is manufactured, a DFMA, or Deep Failure Mode Analysis will be done on each aspect of the device. This process is a formal way to analyze each individual capacitor, solder joint, and mechanical component so that we are able to quantify the risks of a failure. This allows us to develop a robust and sensible quality control testing plan. DFMA is used across the industry from car manufacturing to toaster ovens, and we will go through this process before manufacturing.
3. Quality Control -- After manufacturing, each light will be individually tested to ensure that the risk of a failure is minimal. There are some things which are outside our control, such as if packaging is not good enough and an acrylic cover cracks. However, knowing that this is a likely failure mode means that we know to specify in the packing requirements that the acrylic face be protected by packing material. This testing also helps ensure that the light poses no safety hazards.
4. Prototyping -- We have been developing this light for five years now. In the process, we created the ultraluminous light fixture, the Saiko5 LED light, and now the myki. We have produced 22 prototypes of the myki in an earlier revision and found that they work very well. However, before going to a full scale manufacturing run we will prototype a test run of several dozen to ensure that the design of the light has no flaws.

WARNING: READ BEFORE USING!

A very small percentage of individuals may experience epileptic seizures when exposed to certain light patterns or flashing lights. Exposure to certain patterns may induce an epileptic seizure in these individuals. Certain conditions may induce previously undetected epileptic symptoms even in persons who have no history of prior seizures or epilepsy.

If you, or anyone around you, have an epileptic condition, consult your physician prior to using the myki. If you experience any of the following symptoms during use — dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of awareness, disorientation, any involuntary movement, or convulsions — IMMEDIATELY discontinue use and consult your physician before resuming use.