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Team’s Status Report for March 11th

What are the most significant risks that could jeopardize the success of theproject? How are these risks being managed? What contingency plans are ready?

Hardware: I am a little concerned about designing a circuit and soldering it onto a protoboard. It is more permanent than doing it on a breadboard so I will ask Prof. Tamal, Sullivan, or Budnik for advice if I do come across any issues. There’s really no contingency plan because I NEED to do this.

Music Software: Not much has changed. I’m still planning on tightening up any timing measurements for deciding where the beats fall. The reasoning has previously been elaborated on, but to quickly restate: if the timing is off, the user won’t really feel as though they’re playing. It’s one thing to be off-time because you aren’t matching a beat, and it’s an entirely different thing for your instrument to be off-time from you.

Software (CV): I still believe that color detection could be one of the greater risks at this point, as I started to fine-tune the color detection and it proved to be more difficult than expected. I am still not too worried about this, but the contingency plan is just putting up a plain background or having a set color to use.

“ Were any changes made to the existing design of the system (requirements,block diagram, system spec, etc)? Why was this change necessary, what costsdoes the change incur, and how will these costs be mitigated going forward?

Hardware: n/a

Software: No major changes. Bayesian Updating simplified in belief that a more complex system is unnecessary. However, there are still structures in place that allow for a full implementation.

“ Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred.

Hardware: everything is going well! on track!

Music Software: On track.

Software (CV): On track.

“ This is also the place to put some photos of your progress or to brag about athe component you got working.

Hardware: got my testing circuit working!

Software: Nothing too interesting to look at on the music side, though you can see some console output in Lance’s post.

Software (CV): more details in Katherine’s post, but the generative mode is recognizing patterns using the grid:

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Sun A’s Status Report for March 11th

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project? Give files orphotos that demonstrate your progress. Prove to the reader that you put sufficient effort into the project over the course of the week (12+ hours).

The week before spring break, I met my personal goal of testing and ordering solenoids. A few weeks ago, I bought a solenoid with a 12DC power rating and was not sure if 1) this would fit on every key on the keyboard; 2) would actually draw 12 Watts to play the keys; and 3) if this would even play the keys (like do I need to get a push-kind or pull-kind or even a “bigger” solenoid”). Throughout the testing, I encountered some issues like not finding a power supply to handle the 12DC solenoid and such. But, after talking to different professors and Quinn, I figured out that there were “heavier” power supplies in Tech Spark, so I spent most of my time there testing the solenoid. Anyway, by the end of that week, I ordered 14 more solenoids to start building a one-octave system starting next week.

“ Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule?

Nope, I am on track!

“ What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

I hope to design a functioning one-octave system — but not completely build it since I will be building it using a protoboard rather than a breadboard. This requires more time to design the circuit.

I am including pictures from the week before spring break: