ECE 110/120 Honors Lab Section : Glove Instrument Thingy Receiving End

Phoebe Chen(phoebec2)   Eric Dong(ericd3) (Julianna Gecsey(jgecsey2)    Gene Lee(genel2)) => Glove Instrument Thingy  

• Introduction:
  

1. Statement of Purpose
   Have you ever wanted to play an instrument while in a public area such as in the library or on a plane but you are afraid of disturbing the people around you? The goal of this project is to construct a receiver that reads the signals that comes from the “Glove thingy”, and outputs an audio signal of a desired instrument based on the configuration of the Glove thingy. 
   
   

2. Background Research

We have done research on the different types of sensors that can simulate different motions similar to instruments.  For example, a flex sensor across the finger of the glove could mimic the finger movement of a trumpet, while an accelerometer on the top of a glove could mimic the strumming of a guitar.  We are driven to work on this product because of our interest in being able to simplify instruments into a single pair of gloves. Without the receiving end, we would not be able to differentiate between the different sounds of the various gloves that carry different sensors.  In the past people have worked on instruments such as pianos (Fall 2018) or music blocks (Spring 2017); however, there have been no attempts to make an instrument out of a glove making us the first of our kind.

• Design Details
  

1. Block Diagram / Flow Chart
   
   
   
   

2. System Overview

1. The first microcontroller reads the signals that is sent from the flex sensor and the gyroscope/accelerometer and sends the processed signal over to the second microcontroller wirelessly

2. The second microcontroller analyses the signal and outputs different notes of different instruments accordingly
   
   

• Parts

1. Microcontrollers (Raspberry Pi or Arduino)

2. Flex Sensor

3. Gyroscope/Accelerometer

4. Headphone Jack

5. RGB LEDs

6. Buzzer for haptic feedback
   
   

• Possible Challenges

The main challenge we are going to encounter on the receiving end of the project is being able to differentiate between the different instruments that are being played by the one pair of gloves.  Two instruments we are excited to simulate through our glove are the violin and guitar. Although the sensors on the glove will be able to pick up on the small changes in the finger movement that signify different notes, the general hand position in space that is crucial for differentiating between instruments will be much more difficult to pick up on.  In addition, another challenge we will encounter is making sure the audio feedback is in sync with the motions of the glove. To solve this we will have to test out different types of transmitters: wifi, bluetooth, etc. and decide based on practicality, weight, and pricing which is best.