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.
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