Author: pragone

As a group, we spent a lot of time this week on our design review presentation. We have also made some progress on the project itself: Fiona has been getting familiarized with an OpenCV eye tracking program, Shravya has come up with a preliminary design of the solenoid control circuit, and Peter has been researching components to order. Each of our personal reports will delve into more detail on those fronts. 

This week we ordered two push-pull solenoids (Adafruit 412) that we had shortlisted (one for testing and one as a back-up). We plan to figure out how to program them and verify that their properties (e.g., sizing, depth of press, latency and power consumption) are suitable for our use case and design requirements. If so, we will order more.

Risks

We are concerned that when users unintentionally move their heads, despite continuing to look in the same area, the system may register it as a change in eye movement and record a wrong command. Even with that risk mitigated by the wait time to confirm a command, this may make the user experience tedious, so we plan to have slack time after integrating each part of the system together to deal with bugs like these that might come up. We are also hoping to do some preliminary testing with the eye-tracker with just squares on a screen (rather than our unique UI commands) to identify any problem such as these as early as possible.

Changes to Design

We were originally thinking of using a custom PCB to keep our circuit components neatly organized, but we want to pivot to using a solderable breadboard as it is easier (i.e., no need for PCB layout) and allows for more iterations.

Schedule Updates

Fiona redesigned and reordered most of her application tasks for the coming weeks.

 

Part A: Public Health, Safety, and Welfare, Written By Fiona

Music can be extremely beneficial to mental health; it can be used in therapy and is also a very common hobby. For many, music is a tool to better their mental health, like sports, reading, or other types of art. It is an important part of life for many people, not just professional musicians, and our project is intended to make the enjoyment of music more accessible, so we believe that it has the potential to better the mental health of a broader range of people.

Part B: Consideration of Social Factors, Written By Shravya

Our project provides a more inclusive way to engage with musical instruments like the piano, giving users with impaired hand/arm mobility an opportunity to express themselves and participate in an art form that might otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Beyond being a personal creative outlet, this project reflects broader trends of inclusivity and accessibility in design. The music industry, like many others, can sometimes marginalize those with physical limitations, and this product aims to reduce those barriers and expand participation. In human history, music has always been an avenue for fostering social connections, transcending language + cultural barriers, and is an integral part of many social gatherings. Individuals who were previously excluded from music activities will now be able to engage, contribute, and form connections within musical communities. 

Part C: Consideration of Economic Factors, Written By Peter

We aim to reduce the price of our product without sacrificing functionality. For the housing of the electrical components that go over the piano keys, we are doing this by 3D printing the body. This in-house manufacturing method cuts the costs of paying a manufacturer, and keeps the weight of the unit down. Additionally, once testing with breadboards is completed, PCBs, of an identical design, could be ordered in bulk with pre-placed parts that can be done cheaply overseas. Additionally, the UI utilizes a computer, which most people already own, further reducing the price to utilize our product.