First Idea

First idea and project attempt

Conception and Design

First of all, we must start with the first main and general idea, since several setbacks and experiences occurred in the process of this project, so we must start with the first idea I had about the project, which consisted of the creation of a piano on a human scale, in which the first sketch I made represented the piano represented in a large way, because to better explain this concept, when people started the game they were going to be guided by a guide that Porcessing was going to throw at them. , and where it was going to be positioned The piano was going to have different pressure sensors, which you would have people stop where the guide indicated them and where the LED lights would turn on, after this, the processing code would show an animation that would represent, as if it were a score in live version, just as I had the idea of being able to record each sound separately with processing, but in the end I concluded that it was better to make a mix of sounds and that each sensor was programmed to have a different sound.

Fabrication and production

Having already had this clear idea in mind of what I wanted it to look like, I proceeded to think about the idea of what would be the base on which the people would stand, so I searched among all the materials that were there, and the possibilities of use each one, I concluded that if I used cardboard it was going to end up bending in one way or another, since this is a material that as the weight was going to get weaker, rather than the main objective was to support human weight, so to discard the cardboard, then I thought about the idea of joining 4 pieces of wood, but I also concluded with the idea that these pieces of wood were very thin and weak, so it would be very difficult for them to support both the weight of people and the weight of the LED lights, the sensors and all the cables that the project would involve in the end.

So in the end, I found, among the materials provided by the IMA lab, a rectangular piece of wood, which looked the right size to be able to do what I had in mind, so I decided to take it, but this is where I I realized the first obstacle I would have to face, which was that the board was hollow inside, so it felt weak in some parts, and would not withstand human weight, so I had the idea of making a hole in it. the one that could fit hard pieces of wood, which would be like the internal resistors of the board, so that it would not break, so with the help of the drill I began to make a good-sized hole so that I could put the pieces in there of hard cardboard.

After making the hole in the board I started thinking about how I was going to close it, then it occurred to me to seal the hole and the edge parts with hot silicone, since this hardens when it dries and is quite strong without weakening. when you get on top of him.

It should be noted that also, in order for the board to be flat, I had to remove several imperfections that it had with the help of the cutter and other tools and It is also worth mentioning that, during this process, due to some small carelessness with the tools and the force that I had to apply to the cutter to be able to remove the imperfections, I had some minor cuts on my hands, so I resorted to using the first aid kit that was provided. It is available in the IMA lab.

Step 1.mp4

After having made all the possible repairs, I proceeded to paint the board, so I chose to paint it black so that it would look good with the LED lights and so that each one could be noticed and differentiated, as well as be seen. the sensors because of how small they are. It is also worth mentioning that to avoid staining the floor with paint, use a piece of reused cardboard to put the paint there and use a roller to paint the board more quickly, and the edges where I came out and reached stain the floor a little, I proceeded to grab wet paper and dry paper to clean it.

Painting part.mp4

Circuits part

After having the board ready and dry to be able to use it as a base, I proceeded to make the connections of the circuits that I had in mind and to program the basic codes that I was going to use, or at least the base of them, so first I made a basic test, which I also used for the penultimate report, but which helped me for this project, because first I connected two LEDs with two pressure sensors to the Arduino board with the breadboard, and made a processing code in the one that indicated to me that the sensors were being pressed, but at the same time each of the sensors was in charge of controlling each LED strip.

First try.mp4

First Try

Second try.mp4

Second Try

First Codes

Arduino Code

Processing Code

After already having that first test completed to see if what I had in mind was going to work, I now proceeded to make the connection of the final circuit for the project as such, so I began to make the connections and everything came to work well for One moment, all the LEDs responded to their proper sensor, but I did not take something very important into account, because I connected 6 LED strips to the same connection only with a power supplement, which was a very bad decision, because the lights They only turned on for a moment, and little by little they began to turn off one by one or they simply turned off, at that moment I didn't understand why, and I thought it was a bad connection, so I decided to test each of the strips separately. , to which I realized that none of them were useful anymore, to which I found out that I had burned 4 of the 6 lights that I had connected, so later I did not understand how to give more energy to other strips without burn them, and I made another mistake in the process, because this time I connected only 5 LED strips but the energy supplements I used had much higher voltage than the LED strips use, so this time luckily only 2 burned at 5, but by the end of that day, which was already dawn, because I stayed all night making the connections, I had burned 6 LED strips, below are videos of when the LED strips had not yet been burned.

Lights before burning.mp4

Lights before burning

Second try before getting burned.mp4

Second try before getting burned

Burning

Burned

User testing day

A broken computer part

During the day of the user testing, I had already spent several nights working on the project but something unexpected happened and just 2 hours before the user testing, the unthinkable happened, I already had my two prefinal codes from both platforms, both Arduino and processing, when out of nowhere when connecting and testing the connections with the circuits, my computer turned off, I don't know what happened or what the reason it happened was, but even if I tried to turn it on or connect it with the charger, not even the light that indicates that it is charging came on, so basically my computer collapsed and could not get up, until Kevin, one of the fellows from the IMA laboratory, completely opened the computer and turned it back to rebuild, and in some way or another, he managed to turn the computer on again, according to what he explained to me it was because an internal cable of the machine was disconnected and was no longer giving power to the system to turn on, but when I turned the computer back on, but in the same way the hinge of the computer was completely broken, then I realized that the system had restarted completely, so my two codes that I already had were completely erased, in one way or another this problem hit me emotionally, because it had happened Whole nights working on them and on the project, but I did not give up and continued with the process, but all this happened on the day of user testing.

The next days...

After this setback in the process, I proceeded to continue trying to improve everything and I did not let this knock me down, so I performed both codes once again, and reconnected all the circuits again, but now with the energy supplements necessary, as well as with the correct voltages, so once I had the sensors connected and programmed to each LED strip, I first glued them to the table to make sure that each one served in the appropriate way, before gluing it to the the table that I had previously repaired.

Test 3-Leds and Sensors.mp4

Video and arduino coding

Processing Code

It is also worth mentioning that I added a button to the circuits, which is basically responsible for starting everything and programming the LEDs, but it is worth mentioning that I had to change the internal LED about 3 times for this button, since some of them were previously burned, and it is also worth noting that I had to solder each of the tips to connect the button to the cables and then to the Arduino, and figure out which cable was which.

Internal LED change

Connection with resistance

Connection to Arduino Pin

Boxes with laser cut

After this, I already had the physical connections and the codes to be able to pass them and adhere things to the platform, but the fact crossed my mind that all the cables sticking out and messy were going to look ugly, just as if I left the button alone like this and without any type of base, so I thought about using the laser cut technique, to be able to make two boxes, one to cover and hide the cables and another to be able to put the button up.

Cables box

Button box

First Boxes-Laser cut.mp4

Video Laser cut

After joining the boxes, part by part, it should be noted that I opened semi circles in both boxes in the lower parts, so that the cables could enter through that part.

It should also be noted that at this point, I had already ordered and glued the LEDs to the board, since this is where I faced another problem, because when ordering the cables, several of the sensors did not reach where I wanted them to go, so I had to I soldered some cables and I added more F/M cables to another, but there came a time when these cables had already run out from the IMA Lab, so I had to solder them so that they would get to where I wanted them to be, well I also had the problem that the original idea was that the shape resembled a real piano, but I realized that the LED strips could not be completely folded to create a painting with each one of them, so in the end, they looked like like the shape of a flower.

Cables without box

Cables with box

Final day of presentation to class....

On the day of the final presentation to the class, another unfortunate event happened, because when I thought that everything was already running perfectly and that all the cables would work as planned, but suddenly it turns out that at the time I had to present, first the The button on the box fell downwards, and out of nowhere 2 LED strips stopped working, and I began to see what was happening, if suddenly there had been some connection, but it turns out that in the end I managed to connect one of the two strips that had been disconnected, but the other one had surprisingly burned out, to my surprise one more LED strip had burned out, then after seeing that this had happened, I realized that my codes were not working and I didn't know why, well, like the The computer did not detect the port to which it was connected, so I had to rewrite a part of the code so that the Arduino could communicate with processing again, and work again.

After this unfortunate event, whether I wanted it or not, I felt bad and disappointed, because something to which I had dedicated so many nights, and after having had so many problems and challenges, in the end had not worked, the project, and that of the nothing, another LED burned again, it was a very hard moment for me mentally, but the good thing is that I had the support of people who had seen my effort, but still, after analyzing all that night why things had happened , I came to a conclusion and after thinking and thinking for several hours about how I was going to fix it for the IMA show, because I wasn't going to sit back and do nothing and not try again.

So after thinking about it, two days before the IMA show, I decided to take a totally unexpected turn, I totally changed my idea and my project, out of nowhere I had a quick idea of creativity, which I just had and started drawing, but To finish with this first idea, I carried out several tests with 3 user tests that stood on top of the board, because that was another problem that day, that the board was too weak to withstand human weight, because it thundered as if it were going to collapse. break, So at the end of the three of them trying it, the board finally broke, making a deep hole in it, in which the board was completely useless, which gave me much more encouragement to put my new idea into motion.

User testing for platform 1.mp4

User testing for platform 1

User testing for platform 2.mp4

User testing for platform 2

User testing for platform 3.mp4

User testing for platform 3

Hole created

Hole created and imperfections.mp4

Imperfections of the platform

So after all these setbacks, I decided to start the whole project again, two days before the final show...

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