Overview
For our first project, we were tasked to build an interactive toy. The toy could be a traditional toy such as doll, or non-traditional toy. The main purpose was to learn about the audience. Essentially, it’s a toy that was designed for human. Learning about the audience’s goal and motivation are very crucial aspects in term of the project.
Purpose
For my project, I want to build a meditation lamp intended for people who want a lamp not only serve a purpose of lighting up the room but also playing calming tunes at the same time. The inspiration came from music box I got from my boyfriend last year. Hearing tunes from the box provide me a soothing and relaxing effects and that’s why I want to bring it to the lamp.
Process
material needed
- breadboard
- LEDs
- speaker
- 10k ohm resistors
- button
Next, I began to determine the overall mechanics of the lamp. Initially, I had a hand gesture in order to control the on/off of the lamp, if the user’s hand move right, the lamp will on and music will start to play. The iteration was kind of difficult for me since I’m not very good at with the code and therefore I tried a button as a feedback to control the lamp. Although the feedback was not as fancy as the other one, I believe it’s the most simple and intuitive for audience to navigate. Then I found a music library online and decided to use their code. To start, only the music was playing, but the LEDs were not responded at all. So I did a troubleshooting and found out I misplaced the one of the wires to GND. After several iterations, I finally get my lamp working. Here is the library I ended using
#define NOTE_B0 31
#define NOTE_C1 33
#define NOTE_CS1 35
#define NOTE_D1 37
#define NOTE_DS1 39
#define NOTE_E1 41
#define NOTE_F1 44
#define NOTE_FS1 46
#define NOTE_G1 49
#define NOTE_GS1 52
#define NOTE_A1 55
#define NOTE_AS1 58
#define NOTE_B1 62
#define NOTE_C2 65
#define NOTE_CS2 69
#define NOTE_D2 73
#define NOTE_DS2 78
#define NOTE_E2 82
#define NOTE_F2 87
#define NOTE_FS2 93
#define NOTE_G2 98
#define NOTE_GS2 104
#define NOTE_A2 110
#define NOTE_AS2 117
#define NOTE_B2 123
#define NOTE_C3 131
#define NOTE_CS3 139
#define NOTE_D3 147
#define NOTE_DS3 156
#define NOTE_E3 165
#define NOTE_F3 175
#define NOTE_FS3 185
#define NOTE_G3 196
#define NOTE_GS3 208
#define NOTE_A3 220
#define NOTE_AS3 233
#define NOTE_B3 247
#define NOTE_C4 262
#define NOTE_CS4 277
#define NOTE_D4 294
#define NOTE_DS4 311
#define NOTE_E4 330
#define NOTE_F4 349
#define NOTE_FS4 370
#define NOTE_G4 392
#define NOTE_GS4 415
#define NOTE_A4 440
#define NOTE_AS4 466
#define NOTE_B4 494
#define NOTE_C5 523
#define NOTE_CS5 554
#define NOTE_D5 587
#define NOTE_DS5 622
#define NOTE_E5 659
#define NOTE_F5 698
#define NOTE_FS5 740
#define NOTE_G5 784
#define NOTE_GS5 831
#define NOTE_A5 880
#define NOTE_AS5 932
#define NOTE_B5 988
#define NOTE_C6 1047
#define NOTE_CS6 1109
#define NOTE_D6 1175
#define NOTE_DS6 1245
#define NOTE_E6 1319
#define NOTE_F6 1397
#define NOTE_FS6 1480
#define NOTE_G6 1568
#define NOTE_GS6 1661
#define NOTE_A6 1760
#define NOTE_AS6 1865
#define NOTE_B6 1976
#define NOTE_C7 2093
#define NOTE_CS7 2217
#define NOTE_D7 2349
#define NOTE_DS7 2489
#define NOTE_E7 2637
#define NOTE_F7 2794
#define NOTE_FS7 2960
#define NOTE_G7 3136
#define NOTE_GS7 3322
#define NOTE_A7 3520
#define NOTE_AS7 3729
#define NOTE_B7 3951
#define NOTE_C8 4186
#define NOTE_CS8 4435
#define NOTE_D8 4699
#define NOTE_DS8 4978
const int piezoPin = 12; //piezo
const int rPin = 5; //red LED
const int gPin = 4; //green LED
const int bPin = 3; //blue LED
const int pPin = 2; //pushbutton
int ledState = 0;
int ledOn = false;
// notes
int melody[] = {
NOTE_F5,NOTE_D5,NOTE_AS4,NOTE_D5,NOTE_F5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_D6,NOTE_C6,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_D5,NOTE_E5,NOTE_F5,
NOTE_F5,NOTE_F5,NOTE_D6,NOTE_C6,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_A5,NOTE_G5,NOTE_A5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_F5,NOTE_D5,NOTE_AS4,
NOTE_D6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_F6,NOTE_F6,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_C6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_DS6,
0,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_C6,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_A5,NOTE_G5,NOTE_A5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_D5,NOTE_E5,NOTE_F5,
NOTE_F5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_A5,NOTE_G5,NOTE_G5,NOTE_G5,NOTE_C6,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_C6,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_A5,
NOTE_F5,NOTE_F5,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_C6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_F6,NOTE_AS5,NOTE_C6,NOTE_D6,NOTE_DS6,NOTE_C6,NOTE_AS5
};
// durations: 2 = half note, and 8/3,4,6,8,12. It appears that 8/2.9 is more accurate than 8/3.
float noteDurations[] = {
6,12,4,4,4,2,6,12,4,4,4,2,
8,8,8/2.9,8,4,2,8,8,4,4,4,4,4,
6,12,4,4,4,2,8,8,4,4,4,2,
8,8,8/2.9,8,4,2,8,8,4,4,4,2,
4,4,4,8,8,4,4,4,4,8,8,8,8,4,4,
8,8,8/2.9,8,8,8,2,8,8,4,4,4,2
};
// calculates the number of elements in the melody array.
void setup() {
pinMode(pPin, INPUT);
pinMode(rPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(gPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(bPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
int pPinState=digitalRead(pPin);
if(pPinState==HIGH) {
ledState = 1;
}
if (pPinState==LOW and ledState ==1) {
ledState = 2;
ledOn = not ledOn;
}
if (ledOn && pPinState!=HIGH) {
for (int thisNote = 0; thisNote < musicLength; thisNote++) {
// blink the three LEDs in sequence
if (thisNote%3==0){
digitalWrite(rPin, HIGH);
digitalWrite(gPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(bPin, LOW);
}
else if (thisNote%3==1){
digitalWrite(rPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(gPin, HIGH);
digitalWrite(bPin, LOW);
}
else if (thisNote%3==2){
digitalWrite(rPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(gPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(bPin, HIGH);
}
// calculate the note duration. change tempo by changing 2000 to other values
int noteDuration = 2000/noteDurations[thisNote];
tone(piezoPin, melody[thisNote],noteDuration);
// to distinguish the notes, set a minimum time between them.
// the note’s duration + 30% seems to work well
float pauseBetweenNotes = noteDuration * 1.30;
//split the delay into two parts and check to see
//whether the pushbutton is pressed to turn off
//the sound and light
delay(pauseBetweenNotes/2);
if(digitalRead(pPin)==HIGH) {
break;
}
delay(pauseBetweenNotes/2);
if(digitalRead(pPin)==HIGH) {
break;
}
}
}
else if (not ledOn) {
digitalWrite(rPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(gPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(bPin, LOW);
}
As you can see, when the button is pushed, the LEDs will light up according to the tune of song. Here is the prototype
Enclosure
For the enclosure, I wanted my lamp to look aesthetically-pleasing but also can hold all components together. I laser cut this file in wood. At first, I didn’t realize the file size was only 2*2 inch. So I adjusted the file to 8*12 inch at the second time which was size that can hold the components. Then I encountered the issue with laser-cutting, since the wood board I bought was 0.25 inches thicker than a laser-cutting machine normally cut. As the result, it didn’t cut through all the way of the board. And it’s kind of frustrating me. For the next time, I’ll definitely book extra time in order to fully cut through the materials
Overall, I was happy with the way my lamp turned out. In the project, I got a chance to use one of the library online which took my project to the next level.
Moving forward, there are a couple of things I want to change in order to improve the overall user-experience. First, I would start with the tunes, currently, the tunes sound a little bit harsh and noisy, if I could add some function in the program so that the tunes would sounds a little bit better and soothing. I would also like to increase LEDs brightness with more colored to make the lamp look more vibrant and playful.
Yue Liu 