Mechanical system:
Today we determined the overall mec hanical system that will integrate the lasers with the receivers in an aesthetically pleasing way. This system involves a stand that’s in the shape of a violin where the scroll has a mount for the lasers and the bottom has a mount for the receivers. There will be two pieces of wood that will help stabilize the system, as it is standing up on its own. The challenging part of this system is making sure the laser and receiver line up exactly, otherwise the laser will miss the receiver and the system won’t work.
Electrical System:
Today we made a preliminary circuit that will turn on/off an LED depending on whether or not there is a laser pointed into a photodiode. In order to make the system work, we had to use a red whiteboard marker to filter light. In doing this, we were able to create a larger disparity between when the laser was shining on the diode or not.
In class: We found that our overall design needed to be fleshed out more, so we spent some time ideating and understanding our team goals and individual goals. Meeting: We got the speaker to work!
Today we talked with Siddhartan about creating an analog synthesizer. After looking into various circuits, we consulted Siddhartan for guidance. Together, we came up with a few solutions:
Sprint Review!
We got a lot of input and advice about the software vs electrical audio. More than the majority of the survey takers said we needed to flesh out the software side of this project with mechanical system being our second priority.
For this sprint, we created a photodiode detector to find when the laser is shining on the diode. Using the Arduino’s tone function, we output a tone to a speaker when the diode detects the light. A consideration for the diode is adding a filter such that we only detect “red light” or the laser light as opposed to all the ambient light.