Background Tutorial

            To create the introduction of the symphony, “Carol of the Bells,” you will need the following supplies:

• ·         1: 13-note Xylophone
• ·         2: Servos
• ·         1: Arduino Uno Board with USB cord
• ·         1: Breadboard
• ·         2: Rubber bands
• ·         K’nex
• ·         Wires

Instructions

1.      First, the range of the instrument must be determined.

a.       In our case, our range will be from D to A on our xylophone.

b.      Your range will determine the length of your conveyor belt.

2.      Take the “circle” joints of K’nex to form the conveyor base.

a.       The easiest method is to line multiple K’nex on a single bar to create a cylinder that can be attached to the Xylophone.

b.      If needed, a brace can be added between both bases to give it more stability.

c.       These bases should be connected under the two first outside notes:

                                                                          i.      For example, our range is from D to A. Thus, we would place the base closest to D under lower C, and A to B.

3.      Stretch two rubber bands, parallel to each other, to create the conveyor belt.

a.       These rubber bands will be placed on the Conveyor Belt Base, perpendicular to the cylindrical bases.

4.      Attach servo to one of the cylindrical bases, so that the head will make the conveyor turn.

a.       This servo will allow us to hit different notes, without a complex number of servos.

5.      Attach a mallet onto the head of the other servo.

a.       This servo will be coded to turn the mallet to hit the Xylophone in the style of “Carol of the Bells.”

6.      Attach the mallet servo to the top of the conveyor belt.

a.       Make sure to face the servo toward the Xylophone and that it can hit the range that needed.

7.      Wire the breadboard properly.

a.       Following the flow chart, you will first want to connect the Arduino port of 5V and Ground to the positive and negative ports on the breadboard.

b.      Then, you will assign and wire certain signals to your breadboard, so each servo has a different signal.

                                                                          i.      For example, we are using two servos. So, we will plug signal 9 and 13 into different lines on our breadboard.

c.       Attach each servo correctly to the breadboard.

                                                                          i.      The red wire should be attached to the same line as your “+” power or the 5V line from the Arduino.

                                                                        ii.      The white wire should, respectively, be connected to each signal you want your servo to correspond to.

                                                                      iii.      The black wire should be connected to the same line as your “- “power or ground line from the Arduino.

8.      Plug in the Arduino into your computer through USB.

                                                                          i.      After plugging in the Arduino, you should see a green light blink on the Arduino, which means it is working.

9.      Program the Arduino to play your song.

                                                                          i.      With the Arduino program, you can easily find hundreds of online materials for coding, including the integration of MIDI.

10.  Have fun!

a.       In the end, your project should look similar to this basic outline.

Final Design

Final Design

Not shown is the box and k'nex used to elevate the Xylophone and conveyor belt.

Update

This week, we finished basic retouching, and finished coding our device. Unfortunately, our range on our instrument changed from D to F, instead of D to A.

Interlude

On our project, we settled for thorough planning of how we will build our project. However, we ran into some unanswered questions that we hope to get through lab this week.

Check point #1: Make a simple beat out of a servo and musical instrument

From week one, our team felt clearly set on success, but many of the "check points" were difficult to achieve. Thus, we ended up dedicating more time to these check points, instead of working on our final project. Therefore, we plan to have one person work on the check point every week, while the others plan and work out the final project. 

With this plan set in motion, we should be able to finish the project in a week or so, depending on the arrival of parts in the mail.

Technical Design

For this week, we finally finished our last technical design. We switched out the original 9 volt battery, in order to avoid using resistors, and keep a simple design. Mallots will be attached to each servo or actuator, in order to produce the sound on the Xylophone. We will do this by programming the servos to turn down to hit the Xylophone in the style of "Carol of the Bells."

All the components will be powered through two AA batteries, because the max voltage most servos could get is about 5v. Our original 9v would not have worked with most servos without a resistor, thus we decided to change what voltage we would us.

The musical range of the is within 5 notes: the highest being G to our lowest being C.

Design

This is our basic Arduino design. From this, we will attached mallots to the servos and program them to play "Carol of the Bells."

Project Overview

        Following suit of the Harry Potter Robot Orchestra at Drexel University, a new module of Engineering Design has focused on freshmen creating self-playing instruments from Arduinos, servos, and various instruments.
        From this project, students will learn to work together as a team, while developing key skills that they will need in the future, including:

• Attention to detail
• Basic coding
• Communication skills
• Etc. 

        For our team, we will be making an Arduino power three-four servos at once, in order to to play "Carol of the Bells" on the Xylophone. Some of the hardest challenges will be timing and positioning.

Who we are?

(From left to right: Maggie Mulhern, Arianna Rivera, and Siobhan Montenegro)

Maggie Mulhern is studying to become a mechanical engineer at Drexel University! As a Philadelphia native, she enjoys the urban campus that is close to home. Right now, she is involved with Robotics Club and the "Dancing with Drones" project at Drexel's ExCITe Center. In the future, she plans to take on more research opportunities and to apply to the accelerated program for her master's degree.


Arianna Rivera is from the nearby town of Cherry Hill, and is planning on being a Materials Science Engineer. While most of the ExCITe Engineering Learning Community are closely associated with art, Arianna plays violin, piano, and guitar. On top of that, she is a hardworking and diligent student, who plans to use her degree to minimize pollution and help the environment.

Siobhan Montenegro is the type of person, who knows what she wants and goes for it! Without a doubt, Siobhan is studying in hopes to become a Neurochemical Engineer, but she wants to get her bachelor's degree in Mathmatics first. With this advanced degree, she plans to discover the many mysteries of the mind