A Swift Teardown - Hackster.io

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Whether you happen to be a devoted Swiftie or someone who has absolutely no interest in the current fads in pop music, one thing that we can all agree on is that hardware teardowns are rockin'. And John Graham-Cumming’s recent teardown has got a little something for everyone. It involves a wristband from Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. No, this is not like the paper wristbands of yesteryear for those that have not been to a concert since the days of Nirvana (that wouldn’t be a very interesting teardown, now would it?). These modern wristbands light up and can be interactively controlled during the show to create mesmerizing effects. Led Light Sticks For Concert

This particular wristband was made by PixMob, which is a well-known manufacturer of such devices. Inside the plastic casing, there are only a handful of components populating the circuit board. There is a microcontroller, an EEPROM, a pair of RGB LEDs, an infrared receiver, and a small number of supporting components. Needless to say, the technology is not exactly cutting-edge. A large infrared projector blasts a code to the wristbands, much like an infrared television remote control. That code is decoded by the microcontroller which then blinks the LEDs in some sort of predefined pattern.

While the wristband is very simple technologically, having a large number of them together can create some very nice effects all the same. The devices can be activated in waves throughout the venue, or cutouts can be fitted over the projector to draw shapes in the audience, for example.

But when you take the wristband home after the concert, the show is over. Well, unless you happen to be a hardware hacker that can reverse engineer the infrared protocol, that is. And yes, a good deal of work has already been done in this area. As such, Graham-Cumming was able to lean on that knowledge and utilize a Flipper Zero to produce the appropriate infrared signals to bring the wristband back to life. Party on!

For more background on these interactive concert wristbands, head on over to the full project write-up.