Seeing your sound by Angel & Amber -Marcela
- CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
My previous midterm group project was something that shows the interaction between human and machines. Using strings to show the connections between them and his the transformation of emotions are formed. People provide instructions, which it receives and acts upon, triggering my understanding and definition of interaction: two characters communicate with each other, and both have reactions to each other depending on their communication, creating a loop. As a consequence of this research, I’ve decided to make a voice-activated sensor light that can receive people’s instructions and is helpful in daily life.We improved our idea even further to make it more interactive, which means that not only will the light turn on when there is a sound, but it will also change colors according on the varying volumes of individuals supplying the light. It is unique to our project since it is built specifically for deaf impaired persons. It has unique significance for this target group since deaf individuals cannot hear sound or music, thus they may “hear” their own voice by looking at the various colors in the light.
- CONCEPTION AND DESIGN:
In what ways did your understanding of how your users were going to interact with your project inform certain design decisions you made? Account for several such decisions. In addition, what form, material or elements did you use? What criteria did you use to select those materials? Why was it/were they best suited to your project purpose, more than any other one/s? What might have been another option? But you rejected it—why?
My users will interact with my project by standing within 80 center miters of it and making a sound, causing the light to switch on. They may then speak any things with varying volumes, causing the light to change colors. The volume-based colors are shown below.
To develop my project, I picked an Arduino circuit, a color-changing light belt, and some unique sensors based on my understanding of the interaction between my users and my product. Meanwhile, because it is a light, we needed to give it an aesthetic aspect, so we selected to embellish it with Laser cut out forms.
Finally, in addition to the fundamental components in an Arduino circuit and a light belt, I chose to employ an analog sound sensor to detect user loudness and an Ultrasonic Ranger to measure distance. The criteria were that it had to meet the volume and distance requirements for user engagement with the project. We picked these two sensors directly because they best fit our project’s objectives. We had a particular aim of what sort of mode we wanted, which was to gather data on users’ volume and the distance between the project and the users.
- FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION:
Our manufacturing process consists of four major steps:
1. Create the light’s frame and lampshade.
We cut off the frames and used the Laser cut to build the lamp-shade after carefully calculating and creating the designs. The frames and cover were then glued together with 502 glue. This procedure was effective since the lamp-shade was both appealing and stable.
Throughout this procedure, I made sketches of the lamp-shade and its dimensions. And then we cut the frames out and glued them together.
(Sketch)
(Laser cut)
2. Build the circuit and write the code
First, we looked over the equipment on the interaction lab website to figure out how to attach the sound sensor. I was able to attach the sensor using the diagram.
(Circuits shown above)
I knew we had to use the “map” code since we had to convert the loudness signal to the color of the light. After asking our buddies how to code the many colors of the light belt, I learned how the “leds[i]” function and utilized “CHSV” to control different colors. So, here are my codes:
#include <FastLED.h>
#define NUM_LEDS 29
#define DATA_PIN 6
//CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];
CRGBArray<NUM_LEDS> leds;
//boolean check = false;
void setup() {
// initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second:
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
FastLED.addLeds<NEOPIXEL, DATA_PIN>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
}
void loop() {
//read sensor value
int sensorValue = analogRead(A0);
//map sensorValue to color - test the min & max
int colorValue = map(sensorValue, 65, 120, 0, 360);
//assign color value to LEDs
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) {
//leds[i] = CRGB(sensorValue, sensorValue, sensorValue);
if (sensorValue < 77) {
leds[i] = CHSV(colorValue, 255, 0); //quiet
} else {
leds[i] = CHSV(colorValue, 255, 255); //loud
}
}
//FastLED.setBrightness();
FastLED.show();
//print values in monitors
Serial.println(sensorValue);
//Serial.println("color="+ colorValue);
delay(50);
}
After testing the project, we discovered that because there is always noise in the environment, it may light up all the time. As a result, we decided to include another distance sensor-Ultrasonic Ranger-to ensure that the light would only switch on when individuals get close enough.
Code for ultrasonic sensor:
// ---------------------------------------------------------------- //
// Arduino Ultrasoninc Sensor HC-SR04
// Re-writed by Arbi Abdul Jabbaar
// Using Arduino IDE 1.8.7
// Using HC-SR04 Module
// Tested on 17 September 2019
// ---------------------------------------------------------------- //
#define echoPin 2 // attach pin D2 Arduino to pin Echo of HC-SR04
#define trigPin 3 //attach pin D3 Arduino to pin Trig of HC-SR04
// defines variables
long duration; // variable for the duration of sound wave travel
int distance; // variable for the distance measurement
void setup() {
pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT); // Sets the trigPin as an OUTPUT
pinMode(echoPin, INPUT); // Sets the echoPin as an INPUT
Serial.begin(9600); // // Serial Communication is starting with 9600 of baudrate speed
Serial.println("Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 Test"); // print some text in Serial Monitor
Serial.println("with Arduino UNO R3");
}
void loop() {
// Clears the trigPin condition
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
// Sets the trigPin HIGH (ACTIVE) for 10 microseconds
digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
// Reads the echoPin, returns the sound wave travel time in microseconds
duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);
// Calculating the distance
distance = duration * 0.034 / 2; // Speed of sound wave divided by 2 (go and back)
// Displays the distance on the Serial Monitor
Serial.print("Distance: ");
Serial.print(distance);
Serial.println(" cm");
}
After that, we tested it again and discovered that it was insufficiently sensitive, which meant that it would only turn on when we blew or tapped the microphone on the sound sensor. As a result, I approached Marcela for assistance. Finally, we discovered a solution to this problem: calibrate during the first 5 seconds. The sensor could test the minimum and maximum volume using this manner, and as a result, it would map the volume between the sensor in and sensorMax to all of the light’s hues. It was a scientific procedure because it was capable of removing the effects of noise. As a result, below are the final codes.
#include <FastLED.h>
#define NUM_LEDS 29
#define DATA_PIN 6
// variables:
int sensorValue = 0; // the sensor value
int sensorMin = 1023; // minimum sensor value
int sensorMax = 0; // maximum sensor value
//CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];
CRGBArray<NUM_LEDS> leds;
//boolean check = false;
#define echoPin 2 // attach pin D2 Arduino to pin Echo of HC-SR04
#define trigPin 3 //attach pin D3 Arduino to pin Trig of HC-SR04
// defines variables
long duration; // variable for the duration of sound wave travel
int distance; // variable for the distance measurement
void setup() {
// initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second:
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
FastLED.addLeds<NEOPIXEL, DATA_PIN>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT); // Sets the trigPin as an OUTPUT
pinMode(echoPin, INPUT); // Sets the echoPin as an INPUT
Serial.begin(9600); // // Serial Communication is starting with 9600 of baudrate speed
// Serial.println("Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 Test"); // print some text in Serial Monitor
// Serial.println("with Arduino UNO R3");
// calibrate during the first five seconds
while (millis() < 5000) {
sensorValue = analogRead(A0);
Serial.print("callibrating...sec: ");
Serial.println(millis()/1000);
// record the maximum sensor value
if (sensorValue > sensorMax) {
sensorMax = sensorValue;
}
// record the minimum sensor value
if (sensorValue < sensorMin) {
sensorMin = sensorValue;
}
}
}
void loop() {
//read sensor value
int sensorValue = analogRead(A0);
sensorValue = constrain(sensorValue, sensorMin, sensorMax);
//map sensorValue to color - test the min & max
int colorValue = map(sensorValue, sensorMin, sensorMax, 0, 360);
// Clears the trigPin condition
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
// Sets the trigPin HIGH (ACTIVE) for 10 microseconds
digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
// Reads the echoPin, returns the sound wave travel time in microseconds
duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);
// Calculating the distance
distance = duration * 0.034 / 2; // Speed of sound wave divided by 2 (go and back)
// Displays the distance on the Serial Monitor
Serial.print("Distance: ");
Serial.print(distance);
Serial.println(" cm");
//assign color value to LEDs
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) {
if (distance < 80) {
if (sensorValue < sensorMin*1.15) {
leds[i] = CRGB::Black;
} else {
leds[i] = CHSV(colorValue, 255, colorValue); //loud
}
} else {
leds[i] = CRGB::Black;
}
}
//FastLED.setBrightness();
FastLED.show();
//print values in monitors
Serial.println(sensorValue);
Serial.print("sensorMin: ");
Serial.println(sensorMin);
Serial.print("sensorMax: ");
Serial.println(sensorMax);
//Serial.println("color="+ colorValue);
delay(50);
}
Throughout this process, I was responsible for continuing to evaluate how the sensor worked and thinking of ways to improve it. Sensors or switching circuits If the sensor couldn’t work well or wasn’t sensitive enough, I would ask fellows or professors to make improvements. Finally, I was able to make it operate as close to what we desired as possible. My partner and I settled on the distance data and the improvements to the project.
3. User test
During the User Testing Session, I discovered a problem in which users were unsure how to engage with our software, which I had to explain to them. As a result, we decided to include a phony microphone to alert users that they must speak or sing to the project. We chose to design a sketch map-like way since attaching a fake microphone to it was ineffective.
In addition, to show users how changing their volume affects the lights, we added a color map like this:
And we identified the high and low tendency on the diagram so that users knew exactly what they could do to interact with our project and how the interaction works.
It was effective in my opinion since after making this change, it was evident where the relationship between users and the project was.
All of the decisions I took to develop our project had one fundamental purpose in mind: to make it more interactive and to make the interaction obvious to users, so that we could create a better project that was both useful and entertaining.
4. Designing the poster.
During the process, I wrote the introduction of our project, and my partner designed the poster with Gravit Designing.
(Model made by Tinkercad)
CONCLUSIONS:
To recap, the purpose of our study was to enable deaf people to “see” the sounds around them. They can perceive varied volumes of sound by interacting with the project’s various colors. I believe the outcome of our project aligned with my concept of interaction, because the audience spoke or made sounds near the microphone and received the reaction of different colors of our project’s light. When you changed the volume, the color changed visibly, and it was interactive. However, when the background noise was really loud, the sensor would detect that as well, and the light would turn on, which was not consistent with user-project interaction.
Finally, the crowd was able to talk to the microphone because I put a sketch map to it, which made it more obvious. They experimented with volume and tone to figure out how the project worked, and they discovered that adjusting the volume caused the color to change. I believe this process was interactive since the audience was attempting to interact with our project and the software was responding. To me, it was a success.
If I had more time to create my project, I would run it through more tests to discover a code that can practically remove background noise and make the sensor more sensitive, making it more entertaining and engaging. I would also increase the brightness of the light.
This method taught me a lot. When the sensor detected more background noises and kept turning on, I understood that there are always circumstances that I overlooked. As a result, when creating a project, I must be careful and considerate. Aside from that, when the code didn’t function and I had to make thousands of changes to it, I realized that coding isn’t only a logical job; I have to consider many other variables and make many changes and test it out, which is also an alterable and flexible task. When the color of the light changed for sure, I realized that producing a project is a task of our whole ability, not only our technical competence.
I learnt that building a project is a test of our whole skill, including not only our capacity to learn new things, such as coding and connecting Arduino, which we accomplished during the process, but also our patience, ability to handle pressure, and tenacity in the face of several failures. Most significantly, I definitely increased hands on building skills!
Include the poster, images, and video(s) of your project in the blog post!
(Poster)
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