Click the above link to see our prototype in action!
Our Prompt: For this quarter-long idea session, we were tasked with the challenge of creating a musical installation somewhere along the walkway to the school entrance. This installation would have to entice students, teachers, and passersby alike to take the long trek down the walkway and would be able to be played either solo, or as a group effort.
Our Project: After considering the prompt, we decided to address it by creating a xylophone fixed to the ceiling of the walkway, with a unique activation system. We debated attaching the xylophone to a wall, but we realized it would be best to keep it out of reach of people with bad intentions. The activation system is a collection of levers and hammers. The hammers hover below the chimes, and when a lever is pulled down, it tugs on a cable which is attached to the hammer above. The cable is fixed to the hammer on the opposite side of the fulcrum, meaning when the lever is pulled the hammer swings upwards, hitting the note. We have had several iterations of this. The first was the idea of a pulley system that dragged a hammer up a track. We were fairly satisfied with this idea, but we soon realized there was a way we could do the same thing in a simpler fashion (our current system).
Precedents: Our activation system closely resembles the Cornell Chimes. We took inspiration from the brilliantly simple way these chimes work and modified the system to meet our needs.
Challenges/lessons learned: One thing we didn't account for was the lengths of the levers in relation to the lengths of the chimes. We needed the levers to hit the pipe in the exact middle, which we originally thought meant we would have to create a different length lever for each pipe. Eventually we realized we could stagger the pipes, lining up all of the centerpoints, eliminating this problem. Another overall lesson I learned was that prototyping and iterations are key. We were certain we had our final idea when we came up with the idea of a pulley system, but there is almost always a better way (for us it was the lever system). Also, when we had all of our final pieces in rhino, we decided it would be a good idea to cut just one lever/hammer combo first to see if it worked. We were lucky we did this because we discovered some problems we had to fix.
Next Steps/Iterations: Although we have worked long and hard at this project for the past quarter, we are far from done. Our activation system is complete, but we still need to figure out how to fix the chimes/notes to the ceiling. In addition, the final project would ideally be placed where it was originally meant to go (the walkway). I personally would also like to eventually change some small things like the shape of the levers (a more comfortable, aesthetically pleasing version would be nice), and add caps over the boxes holding the levers so you can only see the lever (this would give it a cleaner, simpler look).