Final Projects

Part 2: Codes Implementation

First, I tired to combine the music codes and external capacitive touch codes by myself, and this is the first version of my codes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16PDCvlDD5TixtUorznkxy656NJFYrfGtdJVUgHUozJI/edit?usp=sharing

As I encountered repeated errors with these codes, causing some frustration, so I decided to focus on refining the music codes first. Initially, I intended to program three songs into the circuit board. However, Claudia informed me that storage capacity might be an issue. Hence, I eventually only selected three specific songs: 'Jingle Bell Rock,' 'This is Halloween,' and the 'Birthday Song.' Below are the music sheets and the corresponding codes I used:

Jingle Bell Rock

int STmelody[] = {392, 392, 440, 392, 523, 494, 392, 392, 440, 392, 587, 523, 392, 392, 784, 330, 523, 494, 440, 392, 587, 523};

int STnoteDurations[] = {188, 188, 376, 188, 188, 376, 188, 188, 376, 752 };

int size = sizeof(STmelody) / sizeof(int);

This is Halloween

int STmelody[] = {247, 247, 247, 233, 98, 247, 247, 247, 247, 247, 233, 98};

int STnoteDurations[] = {188, 188, 94, 94, 188, 94, 94, 94, 94, 94, 94, 188};

Birthday Song

int STmelody[] = {392, 392, 440, 392, 523, 494, 392, 392, 440, 392, 587, 523, 392, 392, 784, 330, 523, 494, 440, 698，698，659，523, 587, 523 };

int STnoteDurations[] = {94, 94, 188, 188, 188, 376, 94, 94, 188, 188, 188, 376, 94, 94, 188, 188, 188, 188, 188, 94, 94, 188, 188, 188, 376};

All the music sheets are adapted from Musescore:

https://musescore.com/

1) Jingle Bell Rock

2) This is Halloween

3) Birthday Song

Part 3: Trouble-Shooting

Luckily, I asked Audrey to help me with the capacitive touch codes, and she told me maybe it was just some naming issues. In this way, we tried to modify the codes and make all the pin number and melody number consistent. And... SUCCESS!

Here's my final sketch coded:

Final Codes

Part 4: Building Physical Project

At this stage, my product acutally diverged a lot from my orginal plan and sketch. For example, I finally decided to only focus on three holidays. And I combined icon drawing and specific touch points into holidary-themed cartoon figures using felt sheets!

Step 1: Woodcutting -- An Interactive Board

I used pine to make it look like an interactive board. I also used a wood lathe to smooth out the four corners because I didn't want sharp corners to hurt the kids.

Step 2: Simple Circuit -- LED Lights

I first built a prototype for the simple circuit -- the rationale behind is that when I touch specific points, it will close the circuit and light up the LED.

Step 3: Simple Circuit -- Use Felt Sheet to build Icons

To better engage the children in interacting with the board, I decided to create icons using a few sheets of colored felt. I sketched them first. Then, I printed off all the sketches and cut them into three cute icons. Then, I used the felt pieces to complete my physical product. Here's a collection of the photos:

SKETCH:

PROCESS: I failed many times to make all these circuits work and light up the LED. Sometimes the copper tape didn't work, and sometimes the battery died. But luckily, I succeeded finally!

Step 4: Finalize

The final step was to connect the circuit board with icons with different holiday names and integrate them into a nice interactive board. I used allegator clips of three colors to complete this step.

Part 5: Final Trouble Shooting

However, I had some trouble with the last step. If I just touched the icon with the name of the holiday, the music wouldn't play responsively. I asked Audrey to help and she told me it might be because of a threshold issue. When I plugged the circuit into the laptop and the battery, the proper threshold could be different. After we tried several times to find the proper threshold, I found that a setting of 500 was probably the most appropriate value.

Finally, finally, finally ... SUCCESS!!

Watch My Final Demo!!

Read My Reflections!!

** Other Supplementary Materials:

Decoration Printing Materials -- I made them with Canva

print 2.png

Design Doc:

Design doc

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