104 Video

[Music] [Chimes] So we decided to go with a wooden vertical frame, and we decided to hang the chimes vertically to try and get a smaller footprint. We also decided to tie the chimes around the top just loosely like this, therefore we can adjust them and move them to where we need, so that the motor functions can actually strike them. We also used the cord here to wrap around the chimes, and kind of hold them in place so they don't move during the song. Alright so something we did well on our chime machine was we were able to add pegs to the bottom of the chime machine so we could wire everything underneath so it has a cleaner look. An improvement we made was the mallets, it was originally this pipe material which struck the chime well and made a good sound, but it was too heavy for the motor. We changed that by adding screws to the popsicle sticks instead. So it makes a good sound still and it is lighter for the motor. Our chime tower plays the notes in our sing through the use of motors and solenoids, which can be programmed to hit the chimes we want, at the correct time. The motors and solenoids are wired up to a a box that connects to the computer and allows us to execute the code. This is done in software called Arduino. In the code, we write commands, which are instructions for Ardiuno to execute. These are building blocks that allow us to develop functions, which are groups of commands that accomplish a task. For example, the pulse-in function energizes the solenoid to push it in and back out, so it strikes the chime. The motor-on and off functions turn the motor on in a specified direction, or off. So it can rotate and cause the attached mallet to hit the chimes. We also wrote a rest function that has the program wait to do anything for the specified amount of time. We play the specific notes of the song by assigning each note a corrensponding solenoid or one direction of a motor. We can input the note duration into our functions, so we can maintain the rhythm of song. Each of the four solenoids has one note, and each motor has two notes, one for each direction. From there, we had a function for each note and rest in the song, and collectively, they played our song.