TEAM 1: Tapped In
Spring 2010

MEMBERS

•We are designing a wearable, wireless , percussion device that interprets a user’s natural tapping motions to facilitate musical interaction with the user’s mp3 player.
The device will use force sensing resistors (FSR’s) and/or piezos on the user’s fingers and feet and wirelessly transmit this data via Bluetooth to the user’s music playing device (smart phone), where our software interprets sensor inputs and plays the corresponding user-mapped sound file through the earphones in real-time and layered on top of user’s music.

Our technology aims to:

enhance the natural human tendency to tap along with music they are listening to
evolve the digital music listening experience from a passive activity to an interactive one.
Provide entertainment for both musicians and casual music listeners
provide a cheap, lightweight , portable alternative to a conventional bulky, immobile, expensive drumset.
provide a quiet, affordable way to learn the drums

For musicians:
- advantage over conventional drum sets (in certain situations) is obvious
- No portable yet high-fidelity solution currently exists
For mainstream consumer, compare to MiJam Drummer:
oNot functional with iPod

Sounds not customizable

Awkward sound-switching mechanism

Cumbersome (and cheesy) hardware

Our design is more robust.
o

Prototype Hardware:

Software:

•Android application written in Java providing user interface and sound generation.
•Embedded software written in Arduino IDE

Protocols:

The device shall be portable, lightweight, simplistic, and be able to be retailed at < $100.
The device shall be composed of two feet nodes and two hand nodes to facilitate drumset emulation.
The eventual product shall have a user customizable sound map through the Android user interface.
The end-to-end latency shall be no more than 30 ms.
The device (all nodes) shall be up and running in less than 30 s.
The audio ouput shall be able to be layered on top of music playback or other mobile device system audio.
The hardware shall not be cheesy or cumbersome to the user, and as such shall be minimalist and as subtle as possible.

To be completed.