Now that the control buttons are in the circuit, I’ve tamed the clanking noise of the Robotic Glockenspiel! Hear it in this YouTube video.
In an earlier post I mentioned that I’d used a tube of silicone to put a drop of silicone on each solenoid, to reduce the loud ‘clank’ when the solenoid strikes the chime. I found out that a drop of silicone is way too much: the chimes hardly sounded at all.
Continue reading Silicone Pads Make a Lovely SoundSince my last post about the glockenspiel, I’ve been taking a vacation from my vacation (aka working). Today I turned back to the glockenspiel and wired up the first of the 5 lighted switches.
Continue reading The First Switch is InThis post is about what I’ve learned about Making through the Robotic Glockenspiel project.
Continue reading Collaboration is Not Part of Making; It’s the Heart of MakingNow that the glockenspiel is working and in a case, this post is about what I’ve learned about Design Thinking through my Robotic Glockenspiel project.
Caveat: since I didn’t apply formal Design Thinking to the project, I’m going to be shamelessly revisionistic in order to talk about how the project would have been better via Design Thinking.
Continue reading Design Thinking Via the Robotic Glockenspiel ProjectIn my previous post, I started putting the glockenspiel case together. Now I’ve bolted the glockenspiel harp and circuit boards into the base of the box, and temporarily mounted the handles and buttons. I still need to wire up the buttons.
Continue reading It’s All in the Box (Except for the Buttons)Now that the glockenspiel plays a number of Christmas carols, it’s time to put it in a box.
After a pile of routing I’m now nailing and gluing the Robotic Glockenspiel box together. Since this is a first prototype (the flat chime harp is too large to be practical), I’ve made the box sides from 3/4″ x 6″ “white wood” (fir or pine) instead of hardwoods, and made no attempt to conceal the nails.
Continue reading Gluing the Glockenspiel BoxIn my previous post, the robotic glockenspiel played its first tune. This post is an update on transcribing more tunes.
Continue reading Robotic Glockenspiel Now Plays 17 Carols
