Created by Soole, James William, last modified by Baker, Riley Makenna on Oct 24, 2019

James Soole | soole2 | 110

Riley Baker | rileymb3 | 110



Project Proposal

  1. Introduction

    1. Statement of Purpose

      The purpose of our project is to engineer a ukelele that plays itself. Given a pre-determined song, pressure on the appropriate frets should create chords. The strings should also be strummed.
    2. Background Research

      The strumming mechanism can be attained with a servo's back/forth motion, programmed in time to arduino code. The chord mechanism seems more challenging; it would involve hardware housing and multiple linear actuators to press at down on certain frets.

  2. Design Details

Parts


  1. Possible Challenges

    No reference for playing chords (only reference for strumming)
    Familiarizing ourselves with arduino programming
    Full-width strumming - ideal; possible strumming idea would be lift of servo or linear push on handle of strumming device

  2. References
  3. https://www.electromaker.io/blog/article/and-now-a-guitar-that-plays-itself
  5. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?view=detail&mid=DBDAA3F7923C36E2FA5EDBDAA3F7923C36E2FA5E&shtp=GetUrl&shid=1e112dc5-6b7f-4dbd-92af-62c9edbbb73a&shtk=SG93IHRvIGNvbnRyb2wgU2Vydm8gbW90b3Igd2l0aCBBcmR1aW5vIHdpdGggYW5kIHdpdGhvdXQgcG90ZW50aW9tZXRlcg%3D%3D&shdk=SW4gdGhpcyB2aWRlbyB5b3Ugd2lsbCBsZWFybjogLVdoYXQgaXMgYSBzZXJ2byBtb3RvciAtSG93IHRvIGNvbm5lY3QgaXQgdG8gQXJkdWlubyAtSG93IG1vdmUgaXQgdG8gYW55IHBvc2l0aW9uIC1UZXN0IHRoZSBzZXJ2byB3aXRoIGRpZmZlcmVudCBwb3NpdGlvbiBvZiBvZiAxLCAxMC4gYW5kIDMwIGRlZ3JlZXMgZm9yIHBvdGVudGlvbWV0ZXIgeW91IGNhbiB1c2UgYW55dGhpbmcgdmFsdWUgYmV0d2VlbiAxa86pIHRvIDUwMGvOqS4gVGhlIHNvdXJjZSBjb2RlIGZvciB0aGlzIHByb2plY3QgaXMgYXZhaWxhYmxlOmh0dHA6Ly9iaXQubHkvcmp4LXNlcnZvIFR1dG9yaWFsIGJ5IEFobWFkIFNoYW1zaGlyaSAuLi4%3D&shhk=ZwBU%2B6fcjJcXC%2BhjLCSFsImjSjRqiMoJMkyLqcis3G8%3D&form=VDSHOT&shth=OSH.YDOkWX5cRRtyQx0L%252BE8h7A
  6. https://github.com/makeandfake/Strumbot/tree/master
  7.  


Attachments:

Untitled Diagram.png (image/png)
Untitled Diagram (1).jpg (image/jpeg)

Comments:

Could you expand upon how you plan to interact with ukulele? How do you think you'll depress the strings?

I would encourage you guys to focus on one component of the larger project to focus on first. For example, perhaps focus on a system to depresses a particular string on a fixed fret.

This week is lab, try to mocking up a physical design and, if necessary, picking one part of the larger project to focus on.
Posted by chorn4 at Oct 03, 2019 11:52

Approved, make sure you research common ways of controlling servos from Arduino. In addition, how will you strum only certain strings? Or will you only do full-width strums?

For depressing the strings, you may want to use solenoids instead of linear actuators. These solenoids require high-current driver circuits. Basic linear actuators may not have the strength required.
Posted by fns2 at Oct 03, 2019 17:49