Reactor / 2008

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“The Reactor integrates a clever LED measure technique to switch LEDS on and off”

The reaction game is a two player electrical board game that triggers your reaction speed. Two players are sitting across each other. They can switch off the lights on the board by hitting the lightened squares. Once a square is turned off the next one will light up and the process is speeded up resulting in two players hitting the board like maniacs.

The technique behind this system is fairly simple but clever. LEDS serve as diodes and can only be connected to a power supply in one direction. When connected the wrong way around they start to behave as a condensator. Once switched back again, the LED will discharge. The discharging time can be measured and is depended on the amount of light falling on the LED. This measurement is done 100 times a second and a change in measurement will switch of the LED.

A project in collaboration with Casper Schipper.