Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
20 Air Guitar
 Arturo Arroyo Valencia
Miaomiao Jin
Youngmin Jeon
 Eric Tang design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
presentation1.pptx
proposal1.pdf
video
# Title

Team Members:
- Miaomiao Jin (mj47)
- Youngmin Jeon (yj21)
- Arturo Arroyo Valencia (aarro6)

# Problem

Traditional guitars are bulky and non-portable, making it difficult for musicians to practice or perform in mobile environments. While software-based "virtual guitars" exist, they lack the tactile "muscle memory" of fretting with one hand and strumming with the other. There is a need for a wearable system that captures the physical kinetics of guitar playing without the physical footprint of the instrument.

# Solution

Project: Air Guitar is a dual-wearable sensor system that mimics the ergonomics of a real guitar. The left hand captures "fretting" finger patterns to determine chords, while the right hand captures "strumming" velocity and timing. By fusing these two data streams wirelessly, the system generates real-time MIDI audio.
The design focuses on low-latency wireless communication and precise gesture recognition, allowing the user to play music anywhere without being tethered to a physical instrument or a power outlet.


# Solution Components

## Subsystem 1: The Left-Hand "Fret" Controller
This subsystem identifies the chord the user is trying to play. It maps the curvature of each finger to a specific digital profile (e.g., specific bend angles = C Major).
- Flex Sensors (4x) [P/N: FS-L-0054-103-ST]: These are long, thin strips placed along the fingers. As the user curls their fingers to form a chord shape, the resistance changes. We use these to measure the degree of flexion for each finger.
- Voltage Divider Network: A series of precision resistors used to convert the changing resistance of the flex sensors into a measurable voltage that the microcontroller's ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter) can read.

## Subsystem 2: The Right-Hand "Strum" Controller
This subsystem acts as the "trigger." It determines when a sound should be played and how loud it should be based on the intensity of the movement.
- 9-Axis IMU [P/N: BNO055]: This contains an accelerometer and a gyroscope. It tracks the rapid "up and down" motion of a strum. We chose the BNO055 because it has an on-board processor that handles "Sensor Fusion," giving us clean orientation data without taxing our main CPU.
- Backup IMU (Plan B): InvenSense MPU-6050. It is widely available and has extensive library support. While it only offers 6-axis sensing (no magnetometer) and requires the ESP32 to handle the Kalman filtering or Complementary filtering in code, it is a highly reliable fallback if the BNO055 has procurement delays or I2C clock-stretching issues.
- Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR) [P/N: FSR 402]: A small pressure sensor placed on the thumb. This allows the user to simulate "holding a pick." The sound only triggers when the user "squeezes" the virtual pick while strumming.

## Subsystem 3: Processing & Wireless Communication
This is the "Brain" of the system. It collects data from both hands and converts it into music.
- ESP32 Microcontroller (2x) [P/N: ESP32-WROOM-32E]: One for each hand. These chips are powerful and have built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
- ESP-NOW Protocol: We will use this specialized low-latency wireless protocol to send data from the "Strum" hand to the "Fret" hand in less than 5ms, ensuring the two hands are perfectly in sync.
- BLE MIDI: The final output is sent via Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI to a phone or laptop, allowing the glove to work with any professional music software (like GarageBand or Ableton).

## Subsystem 4: Power Management
Since we want the project to be wearable and "Cyberpunk" in style, the power system must be compact and efficient.
- LiPo Batteries (2x): Small 3.7V rechargeable batteries tucked into the wrist straps.
- TP4056 Charging Modules: To allow the gloves to be recharged via a standard USB-C cable.
- Buck-Boost Converters: To ensure the ESP32 and sensors receive a steady, clean 3.3V even as the battery voltage drops during use.



# Criterion For Success

- Latency: The total "Motion-to-Sound" delay must be under 30ms. Anything higher is noticeable to a musician. **Test Method:** We will program a "Test Mode" where a physical button press on the Strum hand toggles a GPIO pin (HIGH) and simultaneously sends the wireless strum packet. Using an oscilloscope, we will measure the delta (t) between the GPIO HIGH signal and the arrival of the MIDI Note On message at the receiver's serial port.
- Chord Recognition: The system must accurately distinguish between at least 5 different chord shapes with a success rate of >90%.
Dynamic Range: The system must be able to distinguish between a "Soft Strum" and a "Hard Strum," translating that into different MIDI volume levels.
- Battery Life: The device must operate continuously for at least 2 hours on a single charge.
- Wireless Stability: The ESP-NOW link between hands must maintain a Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) of ≥ 99%within a 2-meter radius (the typical wingspan of a human) over a continuous 10-minute testing window. **Test Method:** The Right-Hand unit will send 1,000 packets at the target rate (e.g., 100Hz). The Left-Hand unit will log the sequence numbers; a successful test results in ≤ 10 missed packets.

Smart Frisbee

Ryan Moser, Blake Yerkes, James Younce

Smart Frisbee

Featured Project

The idea of this project would be to improve upon the 395 project ‘Smart Frisbee’ done by a group that included James Younce. The improvements would be to create a wristband with low power / short range RF capabilities that would be able to transmit a user ID to the frisbee, allowing the frisbee to know what player is holding it. Furthermore, the PCB from the 395 course would be used as a point of reference, but significantly redesigned in order to introduce the transceiver, a high accuracy GPS module, and any other parts that could be modified to decrease power consumption. The frisbee’s current sensors are a GPS module, and an MPU 6050, which houses an accelerometer and gyroscope.

The software of the system on the frisbee would be redesigned and optimized to record various statistics as well as improve gameplay tracking features for teams and individual players. These statistics could be player specific events such as the number of throws, number of catches, longest throw, fastest throw, most goals, etc.

The new hardware would improve the frisbee’s ability to properly moderate gameplay and improve “housekeeping”, such as ensuring that an interception by the other team in the end zone would not be counted as a score. Further improvements would be seen on the software side, as the frisbee in it’s current iteration will score as long as the frisbee was thrown over the endzone, and the only way to eliminate false goals is to press a button within a 10 second window after the goal.