Science World is a special place in many ways. One of the ways that we are very proud of is our glittering sliver dome, a unique contribution to Vancouver’s beautiful skyline. This year, we’re celebrating 25 years under the dome, so it was appropriate to kick off 2014 with a fitting tribute to our unusual architecture by installing a Mini Dome on the first floor.
Like its big brother, this is no ordinary dome. Fitted with 391 tiny LED lights, the Mini Dome swirls and sparkles in colourful patterns when a guest drops a coin into its slot. It’s a great analogy that illustrates how every contribution helps make Science World such an amazing place. All coins collected will go towards keeping our exhibits fresh and outreach programming accessible to kids across BC.
Here’s how the Mini Dome works:
The base contains a Raspberry Pi, wires and a coin collection box. Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized computer that can do many of the same things our PCs can do (run spreadsheets, word processing and even games). Educators all over the world use it to turn kids on to programming.
When a visitor drops a coin into the slot, the coin breaks a beam of light. This signals the Raspberry Pi to run its previously installed light program.
Over the next few months, we’ll be testing out different light patterns and moving the Mini Dome around to figure out where the best spot for it will be.