Marbles

Decentralized wireless modular lighting system

Marbles is a modular lighting system that allows you to mix the colour of your light.

The marbles sense each other’s proximity and can exchange data such as colour. External data could also be linked to the system using the integrated wireless modules. The marbles are charged wirelessly with induction and connect together with magnets.

“What if light was a decentralized emergent system connected to the internet of things?”






To charge the battery of a marble it is placed in the wireless charger. The marbles are filled with a foil to diffuse the light evenly over the surface. Magnets allow the marbles to be hung in clusters from metal surfaces.












The marbles communicate wirelessly. This allows them to sense each others proximity and colour. When a new marble is attached to a cluster its colour propagates through the cluster like a wave. All the marbles average their colour based on the colours of other marbles nearby. After a while an equilibrium is reached.

The wireless modules also allow for external data to be fed into the system. For example, the system could notice when the fireplace is on and adjust its colour accordingly.