This summer seems to be an excellent opportunity for home repair and improvement. If you're looking for something fun and colorful to spruce up your home, check out this awesome Raspberry Pi-powered LED staircase project by Reddit user chocolate_dingy.
The project concept is simple enough, it uses a motion sensor to detect when someone is walking on the stairs. There are LED strips corresponding with each step. The Pi will send a signal to light up each step depending on the location data received from the sensor.
According to the creator, the whole setup relies on a single sonar sensor. This is used to measure distance while ascending the steps. The sensor information is relayed to the Pi so it can process the location information.
The LED strips are individually addressable. Any strips will work, but chocolate_dingy ultimately chose WS2812B lights for his project. This project is easy to set up in a day, taking only 6 hours to produce the results we see here.
There are already plans to improve the setup, including an additional sonar sensor at the top of the steps. This would allow the project to work both ways and more accurately pinpoint a person's location on the staircase. In the meantime, check out the full demo on Reddit and be sure to follow chocolate_dingy for updates.
