Lightbulb explores and blends two phenomena: the stabilization of unstable systems using feedback, and wireless power transmission. Feedback systems can levitate objects, stabilize inverted pendulums, etc. Wireless power transmission has been around since Tesla‘s invention a century ago, although it is still not widely utilized.

Magnets and circuitry are hidden inside the bulb. “Using a magnetic hall effect sensor, an electromagnet, and a [modified] PD feedback system, it floats a lightbulb stably in the air, while power is transmitted wirelessly from the base of the sculpture into the bulb. LEDs in the bulb rectify this power and convert it to light. The power transfer functions very similarly to how radio station tuning works.”

By Jeff Lieberman.