Fall 2013 Don't Fret About it
Team Members: Matt Latour, Clinton Peterson, Jian Jin
Introduction:
The goal of our robot is to actuate the fretting of a guitar string on a homemade fretboard to play the surf-rock classic "Misirlou" by Dick Dale. The design features a set of riveted aluminum angles actuated by a camshaft. The camshaft is coupled to a motor while the second motor drives the pickwheel and drumsticks.
The final assembly features a custom breadboard circuit design controlled by an arduino microcontroller. The arduino code forces the camshaft motor to actuate the aluminum fretting to play each different note. The device contains a switch for guitar fretting only (camshaft motor is on, pickwheel/drum motor is off) and a switch for drums/pickwheel only (camshaft motor is off, pickwheel/drum motor is on).
The mechanism underwent two significant prototype milestones before the final assembly was built. The first prototype featured a steel-cable-actuated fretboard with camshafts hitting clothespin "paddles" attached to the cables. The second prototype made significant improvements by scrapping the paddle design and replacing it with a simpler aluminum lever design. The final prototype added motors and a radical paint job.
Video inspiration for guitar:
Video Inspiration for drums (an instrument everybody loves):
Divice in Action
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