A. Music Drop Tower-Nadine (Ziyan) Chen-Eric Parren
B. CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Our project is called “Music Drop Tower”. Two players need to find two notes out of seven to light on the green LED twice and then 3 LEDs of different colors will light on simultaneously. At the same time, the buzzer will play a melody and the melody of the two sides are different.
The unique of our project is that two players can be either competitive or cooperative. They can compete their speed of finding notes. The one who lights on all LEDs first wins. They are also able to cooperate with each other, trying to light on all LEDs on the central heart simultaneously and superimposing two melodies to reach a tacit agreement.
I think everyone can be the player of our project, especially the two with the relationship of friends or couples because by playing this game, they can improve their relationship either choosing to cooperate or competing. If one wins the game, the buzzer on his or her side can play the melody of victory while lighting on LEDs of 3 different colors. If they choose to cooperate with each other, they can light on all the LEDs at the same time to make the heart impact.
C. CONCEPTION AND DESIGN
As for the ways, I think our project not only aims to make users interact with the project itself, but also intends to let the two users interact with each other. Users interact with our project by moving the handle on each side so that they can generate different notes.
As for the materials, we use two ultrasonic sensors, two buzzers, two Arduinos, six LEDs, six 220R resistors, lots of wires, cardboard, watercolor paints, and glue. The crust is made by cardboard and painted by watercolor paints.
As for selection, we choose to select rectangle cardboard because the shape our project is standard rectangle. All components such as wires, ultrasonic sensors, etc. are inside our kit boxes. We wanted to find the elements that can sense different distance, play sound, and light on so we naturally choose ultrasonic sensors, buzzers, and LEDs. Our project is not that difficult and complex so there is no need for us to select complicated elements. The reason why we choose these elements is that these are not only easy to manipulate but also work well when connected. We have also learned their functions during lectures, so we are familiar with them, which makes our projects more likely to succeed.
The other option is that we can use buttons to play different notes, but we rejected it because first, using button is too easy, it is not creative. Second, it will be easier for cardboard to break if it connects to buttons and during the process of users pressing buttons.
D. FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION
Material list:
ultrasonic sensors✖️2
buzzers✖️2
Arduinos✖️2
LEDs✖️6
220R resistors ✖️6
lots of wires
cardboard
watercolor paints
tapes
glue gun
During the making process, in terms of failure, the most significant step is coding part. We struggled a lot about it at the beginning because we didn’t know how to match the code to our project. To handle this, we asked our professor, LAs, and teachers. They guided us to write the correct code and finally we made it.
As for success, first and for most is the code problem solving with the help of our professor, LAs, and teachers. I also think our circuit is fine and our creativity of the project is not bad too. For the circuit, we first decided which kind of elements do we need and then use the knowledge learned in class to connect them carefully to the breadboard. Our inspiration for this project also comes from our research and curiosity about the new ultrasonic sensor.
Circuit:
As for my contribution, I was mainly responsible to the circuit building process, half of the coding part, half part of fabrication, and modification. I cooperated well with my partner. We build the crust of our project together by using cardboard, tapes, and glue gun. When she has time, she wrote some code in Arduino; when I was available, I typed some code in Arduino. When we finished our work, we always copied the code and sent it to other on WeChat.
Code:
In the user test, our project’s coding part had almost finished, and its crust was built. The uncompleted part is decoration and modification. Users came to our project and tested it, most of them enjoyed interacted with our project while interacted with each other. They all gave us some useful advice and we took them down on cellphone.
User test:
Advice we took:
We adopted the suggestions from users, putting the LEDs and buzzers in an obvious place outside the cardboard. We also change the melody for “successfully find the two notes” on one side of the “tower” to differentiate from another. I think their suggestions are very useful and effective for the improvement of our project.
Before painting:
E. CONCLUSIONS
The goal of our project is making users familiar with ultrasonic sensors while relaxing themselves by playing the game.
I think our project aligns well with my definition of interaction because it not only allows players to interact with each other by cooperate with each other to light on all LEDs at the same time or by competing speed, but also enables them to interact with the project. They need to change the position of the handles to play different notes.
In the user test and presentation, players have played different notes by adjusting the handles on the sides. They interacted with each other not only by competing their speed but also cooperating to light on all LEDs simultaneously and made the central heart beautiful.
If we have more time, we first will write down the rules for our project to make players better understand how it works. Second, we can also amplify the buzzer’s sound by adding amplifier. Besides, changing the sound of one side’s note to make every note’s sound different from the other side also can improve players’ experience because they can have a chance to distinct who finds the correct notes on their side.
Looking back, our making process is not easy. We spent a lot of time and encountered failures. But thanks to our devotion and setbacks, we have learned and benefited a lot. For me, the first thing I learned is never give up. Be devoting, be resistant, and keep a positive heart is very important to the final success. What’s more, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If spending too much time on a certain part but didn’t see the result, searching for help will be effective. Communicating with the person who helped us is kind of interaction too! Plus, make the work clear and easy, try not to confuse ourselves. We first want to let the MP3 player play a music melody and ask users to restore the melody by using our project. But that will need a lot of work, and it is complicated. We finally changed our thought and made our final version of Music Drop Tower.
As for accomplishments, the most significant thing I have learned is to manage time appropriately and be devoting. During the preparing time, we were quite busy because we were not only in the midterm week but also need to sing on behave of the NYU Shanghai for 3 concerts. I have written down all my “to do list” on my Google Calendar so that nothing will be missed.
My schedule:
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