Second and final Idea

Conception and Design

First of all, the idea came out of nowhere, I just saw the image of a heart and I thought what would happen if I made something that represented something like "the beat of the heart" but with music and in this case with the mix of beats , so the idea arose suddenly, and is basically based on a box simulating a DJ set, but in a creative way, since each sound has its own heart, which the user is in charge of touching the sensors, simulating a game in which the user is in charge of mixing the tracks, and at the end of the game, all the combined beats sound and the user can have a good and fun time. It should be noted that for this particular project I used a fairly electronic song. electronic, and separate it into 5 different sounds, that is, decompose the song, and once decomposed, assign a beat to each sensor and each LED light, but many more sounds could be added, and many more songs, so that more sounds are created mixed and users can play again and again and have a good time either with family or friends.

Fabrication and production

Having already had the general idea of what I was going to do, I immediately sat down to make the sketches of the box that was going to be the main base, and the hearts, which I first made the box with a semicircle on the back. so that it was there where the cables could come out, since all the connections were going to be inside the box so that it would not look ugly in public view, and since I also used 3 power supplies, I had to have a good space for take out the cables and give power to the LED light strips, and of course to the Arduino connection in general, then once I had made the design of the box, I proceeded to think about how the hearts were going to look, and I thought of the idea to print 5 large base hearts and 5 slightly smaller ones which were going to be the ones on top, because it occurred to me that I could join them using springs, and that they would pretend to be like buttons but dynamic, so I made the drawings of both hearts to be able to print it with the laser cut, so then with the help of Dalin, the technician from the manufacturing Lab, he helped me cut these pieces and proceeded to build them.

When it came time to cut the boxes, Dalin asked me what material I was going to use, and at first I thought of using the classic wood and then painting it, but then I found white and red acrylic, which were perfect . so that the design would have a very good appearance and it would save me the part of painting the box and the hearts, since I had to maximize the time as much as possible, since there was not much left for the IMA show.

Principal Box design

Laser cut-Principal box.mp4

Laser cut-principal box

Laser cut-hearts.mp4

Laser cut-hearts

Construction principal box.mp4

Construction of the principal box

Small accidents with the edge of acrylic

After assembling the main box, I analyzed how to join the two parts with the springs, so I used a large spring which I broke into five parts with the help of pliers, and I made sure that the five pieces were the same size, so that none of them looked higher or lower than the other, already having that, I had the unknown of how I was going to glue them to the acrylic, since they would not be even if I only glued them like that, so what I did was put hot silicone on each of the final edges of the springs to put them at the same level, and on top of the dry silicone, I proceeded to put a piece of black cardboard on them, and when attaching it to the upper part of the upper heart, I realized Note that it was translucent, so it looked strange and ugly if you just left it with the piece of black cardboard glued directly to it, so what occurred was to print more hearts, but now small ones, to to be able to glue a part of the spring to the new small heart and then join it to the upper medium heart, so that in this way when you see the translucent part from above it would not look strange, but rather it would look pretty and stylized.

Springs attached to small hearts.mp4

Springs attached to small hearts

Linking the resource mechanism to hearts.mp4

Linking the resource mechanism to hearts

Once all the resources and the main hearts were glued to the base box, I thought that it would look nice if I put the button in the middle of the box or almost centrally, but with a box that had a nice message or something related to the mechanism, and that the users were able to know what the button is for, so I started making the sketch for this box and designing what I was going to say, and once I had it, Dalin helped me again with the laser cut printing, and also fits I mentioned that he told me that to join acrylic pieces, a special glue was used, which spreads along the edges of the things that we want to glue with a needle as if it were injection, so after that I proceeded to glue this new box and also to see if the button would catch in the hole of the box, which luckily it did, and Dalin also helped me make small minicircles on the edges of the box, which I had forgotten to draw in the sketch, but he was able to make them from the computer where the information is sent to the laser cut this with the proposal of remove the cables and also hide them through there. It is also worth mentioning that I printed more small hearts, to be able to decorate the box on the front.

Laser cut-button box.mp4

Laser cut-button box

Gluing the pieces of the box.mp4

Gluing the pieces of the box

Circuits part

For the part of the circuits, the same connection remained as the first idea, only that I changed the code a little, because now the sounds would be a mix and at the end a video would play simulating "party", but the circuits would continue in the same way. using 3 energy supplements, to give enough energy to the LED lights, without danger of them burning out once again, the sensors are connected to the 5V power of the Arduino, and everything linked to the same GND, but I used 3 minibreadboards, all connected by the GND, but the energy one for each energy supplement, to be able to differentiate one from the other and so that the wiring was not so messy, and the button which was attached to the general breadboard with a resistance 220Ω, and connected to pin 2, it is worth mentioning that the sensors were connected from pin A0 to pin A4 and the lights from pin 7 to pin 11.

Arduino and Processing Part

Regarding the codes, the Arduino code remained quite similar, only with small differences such as the colors or at the end of the game the synchronization with the sounds, It is also worth mentioning that for Arduino, do not use the FastLed library, but rather the Adafruit_NeoPixel one., and the processing code changed in the aspect that for the IMA show it used an animation in 3D but for the final project, I considered that it would have more purpose to display another video that was happy and had a party atmosphere, because at the end of everything sounds are being mixed as if it were a DJ console.

Arduino

Processing

IMA Show

Finally the big day arrived, and it was over, after so many failures and setbacks, I was able to present something, and I was quite satisfied with my work, because people really liked the design and how the project worked, so they were able to interact well, without any type of instructions, because I considered that it was clearer how to play and how to start, so with this I concluded the project with a very spectacular day during the IMA show, in which I was also able to user test my friends, who also dedicated themselves a lot to carrying out their projects, so I consider it to be a great and fascinating experience. I loved that people took a photo of my project, because after so many nights working on it, it was satisfying that people appreciated the hard work.

It is also worth noting that for the IMA show, I provided a screen and two speakers so that a more immersive experience could be felt for the user.

Examples of users

User 1

User 2

User taking photos.mp4

User 3

Another user .mp4

User 4

IMA presentation of the project: It is worth mentioning that the beginning video for the final recording is linked to processing, only at that moment I improvised because the beginning video, I don't know why it didn't want to run.

Overview.mp4

General View

Complete user testing for IMA Show.mp4

Complete user testing for IMA Show

Conclusion

My general conclusion about the entire project is that I consider it to be a great process but there were several stages that despite the setbacks I had, I enjoyed each stage of the process, and thanks to the class in general I was able to discover another side of myself. creative, and I was also able to discover a new passion, because thanks to this class as such and these projects, I was able to realize that it is the first time that I like something specific and that I like the IMA career, because it is such a dynamic career. , diverse and with many paths that can be taken, and projects like this are the ones that at the end of the day and of life teach you to be stronger and to face situations head-on and that there are still five hundred setbacks, it is not just about giving up and giving up. If not, it is about continuing to try until the end and until you can, giving 100% of the effort and in the end there will always be a good reward and learning, for which I am very grateful and very satisfied with my work in the course in general and the project, well I managed to meet my objectives and despite everything, I was able to carry out a completely new project in just 2 days, which now that I think about it is something quite crazy, but nothing is impossible, so I am very proud of myself for doing it and I am very grateful for the support of both friends and my teacher for being there encouraging and supporting me in the process.

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