Friday, May 10, 2013

Final Project: Final Blog (Photos)

 Calibration.

 Writing music.

 Trying out different tunes.

 Working on spacing.

Music Scrolls (Experimented with spacing, intensity of black ink, etc.)

Almost done!


 Presenting!

 Side View

 Front View

 Side View

Sound box

Nice Photos of Our Music Box (From Different Angles)





Thursday, May 9, 2013

Final Project: Final Blog (Video)


Final Project: Final Blog (Discussion)

Reflection

I was satisfied with our final design not only because it worked but because my teammates and I have worked so hard on it and improved the music box. It accomplished our goal, which was to create "light-controlled music" or a device that could "read" music and then play the corresponding notes. One could draw the notes on a long piece of white paper (that fits), and the music box could play the tune or song. 

We were really stuck on the LED problem, but each of us tried very hard to solve the issue. We recognized the problem, tried different methods (calibrate, create a different program, work with several professors), and in the end, the LED board worked beautifully. 

I felt like these four weeks made me learn and better understand the engineering process. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from this project was to record. This helped us remember what we have done and helped us recognize problems and solve them in an organized and efficient manner. 

Our group had a little disagreement in the middle about the design, but we dealt with it fairly and tried to respect each other's opinions.

My first blog post:

EXTD160: Personal Goals

I've always wanted to work with different tools and equipment but never had the time. During high school, I was busy memorizing formulas, reading textbooks, and studying for exams, but I wanted actual hands-on experiences that would require me to apply my knowledge of various concepts. (I wanted to make stuff.) I realize that EXTD160 is the beginning step, but I hope to learn as much as possible about the engineering process and how to use different tools (laser cutters, Solidworks, 3D printers, and more)and skills (basic programming) so that I could build and learn from the experiences/mistakes and also so that I can take more engineering classes in the future. I'm really excited!

I have accomplished several of these goals, such as working with different tools and programs (bandsaw, Solidworks, MATLAB, PICOBlocks, etc.). I also learned a lot about the engineering process and built a lot in this class. In addition, I have learned that there has to be a reason for every step of building (you can't just build and hope something works). For example, I had to consider concepts such as gear ratio to make the car carry the weight as fast as possible. Lastly, I have worked with different people and had a lot of fun.


Improvements

I realize that although I am satisfied with my project, it is not perfect. If we had more time, we would have worked to create a more advanced program so that we do not have to rewind the music scroll. We could also make the drawer (with the controller) come out smoother and work more on aesthetics. Another improvement could be a way to replace the music scroll more easily. We had to attach our scroll to the scroll ends with tape, but we could have done something else to attach them. Lastly, it would be interesting if the music box could read dots of different colors and play higher or lower notes.


Final Project: Final Blog (Log)

 Had exactly 100 trials. Made many changes (changes in LED, LED board, different values for calibrations, etc.). Recording really helped.

: ) = perfect trial









Final Project: Final Blog (Description/Final Program/Past Blog Post Highlights)

Final Project Team

Hannah S., Jamie, & Julia O.


Project Description


Our group's mission/goal was to create "light-controlled music" or a device that could "read" 
music and then play the corresponding notes. (*In my blog, I called this device a "music reader".) The music notes are on a scroll that unwinds in one direction using a Lego motor. The music reader also includes a "sensor box" that contains 8 photocells inside. Under the sensor box is a "LED board" (There is some space between the sensor box and the LED board for the scroll to pass through. The LED board has 8 LED lights right below the 8 photocells. This LED board provides light, which creates a lot of reading differences between white and black surfaces. We colored in the notes (using a black marker) and calibrated the photocells to play appropriate sounds. Other than these main parts, we have the body of the music reader made of wood to give an old music player feel. 

Controller
For our controller, we used the RDSCricket and Picoblocks programming language.

Sensors
As mentioned before, we used 8 photocells (attached to Lego pieces)


Our Final Program 








Highlights of Past Posts


Day 1 Starting the Project
Determined goal (light controlled music reader/player).
Brainstormed designs, major components, ideas.
Researched (music).
Created a Pugh Chart to make design decisions.

Day 2 Testing of Critical Elements
Tested critical components: photocells and scroll-moving mechanism.
Photocells: Obtained readings from black and white surfaces.
Moving mechanism: Worked on scroll ends.

Day 3 Works-Like Model
Worked on works-like model.
Calibrated photocells individually. 
Programmed on PICO Blocks.

Day 4 Looks-Like Model
Worked on looks-like model. 
Drew our design of the music box on Solidworks. 
Decided to make our music box out of wood.

Day 5 Building
After laser printing our music box, physically assembled the music box.
Changed designs (middle separator) and made our music box larger in dimension (width) to contain all the wires, motor, etc.

Day 6 Challenges and MAJOR Improvements
Had troubles with sensor box (sensor mechanism). 
Discovered PICOCricket LEDs were not constant (turned on and off 160 times per second), which made the calibration process very difficult (readings on black and white surfaces changed constantly).
Replaced PICOCricket LEDs with more constant regular LEDs (one white and one red). Made readings much more constant but still difficult to calibrate.
Built an LED board below the photocells (leaving space for the paper to pass through). Success!

Day 7 Final Touches
"Polished" our program (made it rewind after playing a song/melody).
Added a sound box for aesthetics.
Wrote new music ("Ode to Joy" and "Twinkle, Twinkle").

Day 8 Celebration
Presented our project to students and professors.



















Sunday, May 5, 2013

Final Project: Music Reader (after adding the LED board)


It works!

Final Project: Major Issue (solved!)

Our music reader was not functioning as expected. It would work one day but stop working the next day, which made us recalibrate our photocells each time we worked on it. When we learned to create the chart (recording each trial, location of the trial, outcome(s), correction(s)), we kept having troubles because our reader was not consistent. It would make weird beeping noises, play notes that were not on the music scroll, etc. We first had to fix the calibration problem.

We brainstormed for possible solutions: better (more constant) LED/source of light inside the sensor box, using black tape (circles) for notes versus drawing the notes with black markers (consistent black without any ink fading?), using multiple LEDs versus using one (PICO Cricket LED), creating an automatic calibration program that would allow the reader to calibrate itself before playing the notes by taking multiple readings on white surface (no black notes) and storing the maximum/greatest readings for each photocell.

We talked to our professors and discovered that the PICO Cricket LED was not very constant. We were not able to notice with our eyes but the light was constantly flickering, which led to great ranges in readings (that also constantly changed in values in significant magnitudes). Thus, putting two or more of these lights was not a good idea.

We also abandoned the black tape circles idea because that would only make the scroll thicker and could possibly jam and stop the music reader from working smoothly.

Therefore, we experimented with different LEDs. We made a series circuit with a red and white LED and attached them in our sensor box (replacing the PICO Cricket LED). The readings (numbers) were a lot stabler, but when we were trying to calibrate melody 3 (note 3), the differences between the readings for white and black were not so great (we graphed the readings as the music reader read the black notes). The reader was still not as consistent.

Punzi (Julia) and Professor Banzaert came up with the idea of having LED lights UNDER the board (that supported the paper as the photocells detected the notes). They created a cardboard model of 8 LED lights (series circuit), each one for each photocell. This was a great idea and was VERY effective because I observed significant differences between the black and the white surfaces. After measuring, I drew the LED board on Solidworks and printed it (Thanks, Essie!). I had about 2-3 trials (not very many but will do more), and our reader was a lot stabler and significantly more consistent.



One of the things Punzi tried was using taping 2 LED lights next to the bottom board (versus inside the sensor box). This method did not work well, but this idea led to the LED board idea.


 The cardboard LED board model.
The cardboard LED board model.

The cardboard LED board model.


Graph from using 2 LED (one white and one red) lights inside the sensor box. The peaks are where the notes are.

Graph using LED under sensor2. Compare with previous graph. There is a significant difference between the white and black surfaces.

Tools to make the holes for the cardboard LED board model.



Our LED board (wooden model)


(back view) We'll make it neater.


Monday, April 29, 2013

Final Project: Photos


 Views from different angles:






We may need to work on the aesthetics aspect and more importantly (most importantly), the reader's ability to read music (we have to recalibrate the photocells).

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Final Project: Component Integration/Update

We finished our looks-like model on Solidworks and cut the pieces using the laser cutter (Thanks, Essie!).

When we first cut out all of our parts, we realized the parts were too loosely fit (so we needed to use glue and nails). I had to practice hammering because the wood was too weak for the nails and broke apart. Also, when we built our music reader, we had a little group conflict over the placement of the motor. We were split between whether to place the motor inside or outside of the wooden outer structure. In the end (without any ill feelings), we all decided to enlarge our base piece to include space for the motor. Since the original width was ideal for the photocells, we kept a middle separator in the box (wooden structure) to have that same sensor box on top (sensor box is where the photocells and the LED light are placed). Also, the first time we printed, the drawer was too low (the motherboard was not able to come out), and the sensor box had to be enlarged (because we forgot to consider the amount of space the wires take up). So, we cut out the pieces the second time with all of these changes and improvements.

 Individual parts before assembly.



Working with sensor box.


We also worried about aesthetics, so we included musical note designs on our music box. We also used wood instead of Delrin because using wood gave the reader an old, classic feel.

We are still working on placing all the wires neatly inside the box. We will have to recalibrate our photocells because they will be in a different environment (before our sensor box was made of Legos versus wood).

 Our outer wooden structure (second time we cut out the pieces. Note the middle separator. The first design did not have that piece.)

 Our Music Reader. 


Another view of our music reader. Notice the drawer, which one would open to turn on the reader.





Thursday, April 25, 2013

Final Project: Looks-Like Model

At first, my group was confused on why we had to work on works-like model before looks-like model. But, we realized this order made more sense. We had to make sure all the main components functioned correctly before considering the appearance.

For our looks-like model, we had a general understanding of what our music reader would look like (from our brainstorming step, but we made several adjustments. We measured each part (motherboard, photocells, motor, sound box, LED light, scroll moving mechanism) to help us draw accurate models using Solidworks.

We decided to use wood for our material (because of the price and our music reader would look an old music box).

Our assembly drawing on Solidworks

The drawer is where one would find the motherboard (we are planning to cover the "ugly" motherboard for aesthetics). 

The top box is where the photocells would be located. 

Music reader with motherboard.

The other side of the music reader. The musical notes are there for decoration, the bigger holes are there for wires. The smaller holes and the opening are there for the scroll ends. The upper box is where the photocells and the LED light would be located. The motor will be under the smaller holes (on the right of this drawing).

Engineering Drawing of our parts. We will be using the laser cutter to actually create our music reader.

We also created models of some of our parts using cardboard to better understand what the music reader would look like. 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Final Project: Works-Like Model

We had to prepare a works-like model (a model that does not necessarily look like the final model but has similar/same functions).

We experimented more and worked on the photocells so that they would detect black dots and then play a sound. The most challenging part was calibrating each of the eight photocells to make sure that they did not trigger the sound when the photocells detected white (and trigger the sound when they detected black).

We drew the first 7 or 8 notes of "Ode to Joy," and our music reader was not perfect but was able to read several of the notes.

Next time, we need to work on the scroll moving mechanism to make sure the scroll moves straight.

Our program on PICO Blocks after we calibrated each photocell.

 Our program on PICO Blocks to test for sensors (photocells), sounds, and LED light (color).

We drew a thick black band to make sure when the sensor mechanism was over the strip, all of the notes played (one by one).


We tried to test and draw the notes in "Guitar Hero" style, but this did not work too well. 

 Our works-like model. It has a lot of flaws, but we will continue working on it.