Someone built a system that lets them "pour" LED pixels from a display into and out of their monitor

Credit: Hopeful_Ad_2797 Published Aug 22, 2026, 2:46 AM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary A microcontroller and an accelerometer make LED pixels behave like liquid, pouring between an LED panel and a monitor. Pixels transfer to the monitor when tipped, and can pour back to the display from the left corner. The code hasn't been released, but it has garnered a lot of positive attention. Sometimes, a project doesn't need to be practical or revolutionary to be cool; sometimes it just needs to do something very interesting. Such is the case with this microcontroller project that lets you pour pixels from an LED screen into a monitor and back again. And while the source code hasn't been released at the time of writing, it's still an excellent example of what you can do with a few bits of hardware. This microcontroller-powered project handles pixels like a liquid You can pour them between screens, too Usually, when someone posts about their new DIY project, they take some time to talk about what it does, the challenges they faced, and if they're feeling particularly charitable, links to the full source code and all the files they used to make it. However, in this case of Hopeful_Ad_2797 on the Arduino subreddit, they simply dropped a video for their project and walked away, which is a huge shame, because I'd love to learn more about this. Fortunately, they explain the basics within the video. The little LED panel has a microcontroller and an accelerometer in it, which work together to make it look like the pixels on the screen are affected by gravity. When the pixels are tipped out of the "top," they appear on the monitor. The monitor also has an accelerometer, and if the pixels are tipped off the left corner, they pour back into the display. It's a really cool little project, and there's a part of me that wishes the LED panel and the monitor knew of each other's locations. Right now, it looks like pixels leaving the LED panel always pour from the top-middle of the monitor, and can only return to the display via the bottom-left corner. It'd be awesome if you could pour pixels into the monitor from any point across the top of the screen, and the system would detect where the display is and move the pour accordingly, but I imagine that's incredibly tricky to accurately code for not much of a return. Regardless, I hope Hopeful_Ad_2797 uploads the code for this project. The mods for the Arduino subreddit have already offered them a spot in the "Mod's Choice" section of the monthly subreddit digest if they upload the specifications, so here's hoping that's enough to encourage them.