Group 071-07: Robot Symphony

So far, we have used a servo to rotate the tuning peg of a ukulele for our milestone. The stepper motors that were ordered are coming in on Monday. We have experimented with a slower stepper motor that we borrowed from the Excite Center. We have the motor drivers already.

Rich said we should 3D print the mechanism to connect the servos to the tuning pegs. Stepping motor - like an AC motor to control position but rotates fully Use stepper motor to tune it Driver - sends control to servo We will need more power Tuning requires a lot of power, it'd need to be very fast. Also need something to hold the instrument down and a lot of power. 3d print an adapter to the axle (not duct tape to attach) Try with a servo first. Milestone for the mechanism motor to tune a string to some extent. one note tuning. control of notes We will also be using this chart for the Teensy to connect it to the instrument:

So we changed from using a guitar to a ukulele. A ukulele is much smaller and lighter compared to a guitar. It is easier to carry around and only has 4 strings. Figuring out how to press the strings is a long process. It involves a lot of brainstorming. One of the ideas proposed was to use servos to rotate the tuning pegs of the ukulele. The problem with that is that the servo might twist too far and damage the ukulele. Another idea was to use a capo and a solenoid in addition to a servo to press the notes to play a full chord. The problem with this is that it is hard to push down without the ukulele resisting. Goals To successfully be able to play the ukulele using code. To be able to participate in the orchestra of robotic information.

Background: For our project, we will use a guitar and Arduino to play the guitar with servo. Arduino is a microcontroller kit, one side connecting to compute, one side connect to servo or motor. (This is the Arduino) (This is the Servo) We will use C to write the code for Arduino. Tutorial: This is the website for the learning of Arduino( including code): http://www.arduino.org/learning/tutorials/ide-examples This is the website for connecting the bread board to Arduino: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/lesson3.html Q&A Q1: how do we use Servo to play the instrument A1: Because Arduino will give Servo a command to rotate some angel. There is a thing which is the function like a finger connecting with Servo. When the Servo moves, the thing also moves to touch the strings of guitar.

We have decided to use a guitar. That's because Nomina and I have already used a xylophone in ENGR 102 and we want to try something new. Also, using balls to hit our xylophone was too complicated of a task to do because of the conveyor belt concept. It was too hard to come up with a way to execute the plan. Our new idea is to pluck guitar strings with the servos. We will still be using the code from before but we will alter it to cater to the notes we can play on the guitar this time. Our plan is to use servos to pluck the strings with a pick. Each string will be open. We will strive for at least 3 servos for 3 strings. If there is more space, we will do more.

The members of this blog are Amy Tran, Nomina Erdene-Munk, and Wanyi Ying. We are enrolled in the ENGR 103 Robot Symphony Class. In this class, we are going to design an instrument that is controlled by a robot. The robot is computer-coded and tasked to perform certain functions. The project requires us to design and build a robotically controlled instrument to play notes on command. At the end of the term, the entire class will perform as a group orchestra to play a piece that people will recognize. We plan to use a xylophone in this project. Our initial ideas were to use balls to hit the keys on the xylophone. The xylophone would have to be tilted at an angle for the balls to roll off due to gravity. There will be a ball pit at the bottom and a conveyor belt mechanism to transfer the balls back up to the top so that they are ready for the next note. The balls will be released by a slot that will open on command. We were thinking of using a slight incline or a slide to point t...

Advisor: Youngmoo Kim, PhD College of Engineering youngmoo.e.kim@drexel.edu Group Members: Amy Tran Chemical Engineering akt59@drexel.edu Nomina Erdene-Munkh Mechanical Engineering nm853@drexel.edu Wanyi Ying Electric Engineering wy65@drexel.edu