Anne Hu

10/23/24

Goal: To create a musical instrument with Midi

This individual midterm had the following requirements:

• Bluetooth: Pico connects to GarageBand and plays a tune
• MQTT: Tune turns on and off with MQTT commands
• Pausing: The song pauses when a light sensor is covered, and starts again when the sensor is uncovered
• TeachableMachines: Find a way to incorporate information from my computer reading images and sending commands over MQTT to change the tune in some way
• Bits and Bobs: Incorporate two sensors and actuators to impact/react to the music
• Microprocessors: Incorporate the use of a Dahal board, speaking over MQTT

My personal goals for this project were:

1. Be intentional about planning - along the lines of measure twice, cut once
2. Create a clean housing for the electronics
3. Practice clean coding. Make the code easy for anyone to glance at and understand
4. Create a creative project that makes me smile when I see it!

Ideation and Planning

I began my design process by reviewing the design requirements and ideating ways to fulfill each part. Below is a diagram that aided my initial thought process.

After initial brainstorming, I decided to tackle the project by starting with small, individual steps, and integrating the pieces one part at a time. This is reflected in my “Things to do” list below that I used to track progress throughout the project.