Fifth day of Project work

The project is moving slowly forward. After we were forced to change to SunSpot, we have been delayed allot. We have now been using 1-2 days just getting the things to work. In our project it's total overkill to use a SunSpot since were not using any of the features it has. Since the BeatBox isn't that mobile when used there is now reason to have a wireless microprocessor and since we have a cord for the loudspeaker from the computer to the punch bag we might as well have a USB cable. Well I'm getting pretty tired of sunSpot, a complete waste of time. The Arduino worked just fine... Well I don't think I can cry more about it. In other news David moved the wires to a strip board which made the whole circuit more robust and it filled much less. Meanwhile the girls finish the presentation. We also got a hold of a caretaker who would hang the a hook in the ceiling tomorrow. Christoffer had also made most of the code ready so when the sunSpot is ready we can test it immediately. Christoffer also made an emulator so we actually could test the program without the punch bag and thereby made possible to find all errors before we plug the SunSpot in.

Fourth day of Project work

Because we had to use SunSpot instead of Arduino Christoffer and David used most of the day installing drivers and trying to get SunSpot work. We discussed the way we should present the beatbox next week, what topics we will go into, such opsticals, ideas, hacks and so on. and tried to figure out how/where to hang the Beatbox. Hopefully we will get permisson to drill in the ceiling but we won't know until Wedensday. David assembled the wires on breadboard an connected them to the SunSpot. It was pretty hard to connect wires to the SunSpot because of the design on the SunSpot (another reason to use Arduino) But at the end of the day, he managed anyway. We filled the punchbag again, this time making sure to stuff it really hard so the buttons wouldn't tumble around inside the bag.

Third day of Project work (Pictures)

Buttons almost completeButtons complete

Final button testing
before going down the punch bag

Markers being placed

Buttons in place

Third day of Project work

The day started with finishing the rest of buttons (we got some more wire). Pinar went to buy more foam rubber and sewing needles. David started to connect all the buttons to the breadboard and programming the arduino so we could tell the different buttons from each other.

Today we also had a group meting to discuss how the actual "game" should be. We agreed it could be nice that you could use the hit-buttons to select for instance difficulty or another option. We also discussed whether or not the player should have a given amount of seconds to do the whole combination or the time should be measured between every hit. We choosed that the player would have a certain amount of time to do the whole combination. The degree of difficulty should depend on how long the player would have for each combination.

We then started mounting the buttons inside the punch bag to test how this worked. It seemed to work fine, but because we hadn't filled the punch bag totally with the stuffing. This resulted in the buttons was shoved around inside the bag. But we determined that with all the stuffing the buttons would work.

Josefin and Pinar emptied the punch bag so the leather patches could be sewed on. Meanwhile Christoffer and I started recording the sound in the KTH insulated sound studio (A broom cupboard with a laptop). Mia and David programmed and assembled the wires.

I had to go at 17 o'clock, so I don't know how far the others came with the project, hopefully I'm up for a big surprise Monday

Things we still (as i know of) need to do is:

• Programming the arduino and the software for handling the Arduino output.
• assemble the wires on a smaller breadboard.

HOWTO: Make a cheap button

We had a sort of a button workshop and here are some notes from that:

To connect the wires to the tin foil we first winded steelwire with the wire and then taped the steelwire with gaffa tape on to the tinfoil. This had the positive sideeffect of giving the tinfoil strength while it maintained its flexibillity. To connect to a Phidget just put one wire in Ground and the other in digital in. When the two layers of foil connect you will get an 1 from the Phidget. If you user SunSpot or Arduino there should be a resister in between to avoid shortcut. Try experimenting with different patterns in the middle piece of foam rubber (skumgummi) and see whats works best for your kind of button. Also, you don't have to have the extra layer of foam rubber on the two sides of foil, we just had that to make the buttons more robust in our punchbag.

It's also possible to glue the tinfoil on the material you would use for your button, but the tinfoil will more easy get shredded when bended. So this is only a good solution if your making buttons on hard material.

The Foam rubber can be bought in most handcraft stores like Panduro Hobby and cost about 45 SEK for 50x50 cm.

Second day of project work: Button-workshop

After finding the best pattern for the buttons, we continued developing the "design" of the buttons. We tried glueing the tin foil on cardboard but found that loss of flexibility was a bad solution.

To connect the wires to the tin foil we first winded steelwire with the wire and then taped the steelwire with gaffa tape on to the tinfoil. This had the positive sideeffect of giving the tinfoil strength while it maintained its flexibillity. We tried connecting two buttons to the Arduino via a breadboard and testing how this worked. Because we ran out of materials (and time) we ended the day after making a task list and a plan for tomorrow

First (actual) day of project work

I arrived later because I had another course so the group was well under way with developing the the Beatbox idea. We agreed on making the hit zone censors on our own. Instead of force censor we were going to make huge button with tinfoil and foam rubber. We thought this would work better instead of force censor that had to be calibrated every time a new user should use it. Also we didn't think it mattered how hard you hit the punch bag compared to where and how fast you hit it. We have got the idea of making the buttons this way from a lecture and also from some guys at Tekniska Musset who had made seats on a stool to a big button. So these "hit-buttons" will be connected to an Arduino, this will be connected to a computer which will then generate the sound. Preferably the computer will be connected to a loudspeaker that will be placed inside the punch bag.

While writing different ideas and solutions to these we also made a shopping list of things we needed and the group split up so David stayed at the school trying to prototype a "tinfoil foam rubber-button". Christoffer, Josefin and me went out to bye colored leather (for the hit zones), punch bag, gloves and foam rubber. It's great that we've got 700 SEK for the project it actully means that we can make a pretty cool project! We were back at school at 15 O'clock and the group split (because of lectures) but at 17 O'clock we all got back together to continue working.





Christoffer and I made different types of patterns in the foam rubber to see what would work best as a button. Ultimately it was prototype Beta that was the most effective and the final button design is now complete.

We agreed on metting tommorow (Tuesday after 15 O'clock) to continue with developing buttons and how to connect them the Ardiono. My main concern is making something that won't break after hundreds of punches from different users.

Project selection

David and Christoffer was gone today, but Mia, Pinar, Josefin and me tried to figure out what we should do as our project. We started (once again) brainstorming on different ideas. Pinar (once again) was keen on making some sort of furniture with light that changes depending on different factors. I really like her ideas, but Mia and Josefin didn't seem that keen on making a project that you can't take with you. And second of all it could be pretty expensive buying a bed or similar. Mia and Josefin wanted to make a robot, witch also could be fun, but in my opinion it should have some form of different/unusual/abnormal function than just a "normal" robot. I suggested that we made a robot that instead of helping you would do the opposite. In that way there could be some kind of political statement (though I don't exactly what statement :-) )We tried brainstorming around various topics like to whom, Where and what purpose. But none of that seemed to get us anywhere.
We started talking about our first idea of the Beatbox, a punch bag with different hit zones you should hit in different combinations.

It seemed like that there was general unity about this idea. So our project idea is Beatbox v.1 (or v.0?)

Beatbox (once again)
So, as briefly mentioned during prototyping, the concept of Beatbox (The original idea) is a bunchbag with different hit-zones in different colors. Instead of just hitting the punch bag randomly a voice guide will tell the player/user in what order to hit the different zones. The user will via audio feedback get information about correct hits and maybe also some kind of encouraging/scolding depending how good the task was handled.

Afterwards we started thinking on what technology we was going to use. The first idea for the "hit-zones" was to use a force censor with some sort of plate on top of that (to widen the hit area) and the some foam between this plate and the outside of the punchbag. We also discussed whether or not it should be a game for older kids or an actual exercise game/training device. Either way it could be cool if it could learn a combination that afterwards should be repeated. This could be used in a teacher/student situation or a in a two player situation.

Well, we gonna discuss all the details with the rest of the group Monday.

Arduino, first hands on

The Arduino seemed pretty nice. I like the idea that you don't have to have it plugged in to a computer while it's running. And second, it's cheap. Even though I never written anything in the Arduino language, it seemed fairly fairly easy to get started with. It was a bit crowded (6 persons on one Arduino) so I didn't try to connect anything to the Arduino or the breadboard. Hopefully I would try that out later. I'm not that good with circuits, so i would like to learn something about that. But we got both input and output working. I think I prefer Arduino over Phidgets simply because you don't have to plug Arduino to a computer, hence more mobility.

Final day of prototyping

In the weekend I had worked on the combining Christoffers code and mine so I looked forward to testing it with the phidget and the censors. Luckily it worked and the prototype was more or less done. We sat up the prototype with a lamp directly over it so that there would be a minimum of light disturbance. Sadly enough, only Christoffer and I where there to show the prototype. The others were either sick or at classes.

Pictures of the final setup

Video of the final test