Group 071-13: Robot Symphony!

      For week two, our group made sure that we ordered our supplies for our instrument. In our project proposal, we projected the cost for the materials, as shown below: Table 1: Projected Cost       The mechanical hardware are basically the physical, non-electrical aspects of the design. This category includes: a drum set, a bucket, PVC pipes, projectiles, plastic covers,wood, and nails. We plan to also buy four Arduino Servos that are needed to control the instrument through MIDI. Servos are relatively an inexpensive product that requires simple coding, in order to create a working project.Within this project, they will control the flow of projectiles by removing and applying a cover to individual PVC pipes that are filled with projectiles.       The actual costs for our materials are found in the table below. Most of our supplies are purchased  online from Amazon and Home Depot. While the hardware prices were projected accur...

Image 1: First Technical Design For week one, our group brainstormed ideas and completed a technical design for the project. The picture displays the top side view, side view, and an enlarged view of the mechanical part of our instrument. Four drums are pictured in the image above, along with PVC pipes and a bucket at the center. We plan to fill the PVC pipes above the drums with projectiles that will fall onto our percussion set, making different audible sounds for each drum. Servos connected to the Arduino Teensy will be placed at the bottom of the PVC pipes. We aim to program them to rotate the flaps in order to release projectiles. The projectiles will be collected in the bucket in the middle of our design. Once we have possession of the drums, then we can determine the range of the instrument and then begin to code for our part in the Robot Symphony at the end of May. Image 2: 3D Model

Welcome to Section 076-Group 13's Project! For the third iteration of Freshman Engineering Design, this project aims to create an Arduino-powered instrument. While this section was a pilot section for the first two terms, this term the project will be elevated to a performance level. On June 1st, 2017, the instruments made by each group in the class will perform at the Black Box theatre. To take up this project, a passion for music, engineering, and creative design must be a motivation for this course as each will contribute to making the Arduino-powered instrument. Before a cohesive robotic symphony, there will be trial and error, and lots of design modifications, in order to design an adequate instrument. By building this project, a strong sense of teamwork, a deeper understanding of engineering practices, and integrating arts and science within our curriculum.