Arduino Bluetooth (Android) Drummer

Using an Arduino UNO board I built a drummer that can play musical notes on a Xylophone-like arrangement, which is controlled by a phone app (Android) via a Bluetooth connection. The phone app was developed using App Inventor 2 (ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/).

Step 1:

I fixed one servo on top of another like in the image above, and then using some plastic trunking I fixed the assembly on a piece of wood board. Using a metal wire, some blu-tack and a bolt I built the drumming arm, which I finally glued to the servo arm. You will also need to glue the Xylophone "notes" around this arm, and adjust the angles in the Arduino sketch in order for the arm to hit the desired notes.

One XBee Bluetooth shield and one XBee Bluetooth module are required in order to connect the Arduino to the phone app and send drumming instructions.

The LEDs are for visual effect only, and are not absolutely required for this project to work. Follow the schematic for connecting all the components - additional info to be found in the Arduino sketch (drummer.ino)

Step 2:

You can download the ready-made phone app (APK file; tested on my Samsung Galaxy S2 - I know, it's an old phone :-) ), or the App Inventor 2 project, if you wish to make any changes yourself (.AIA file; you will need to register an account with ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/ in order to be able to do this).

Enjoy!

Comments

[tytower]

So whats with the app? will you release the "'aia" file here? Its not complete without that

[Studvio]

Hi, look under Step 2 please. Thank you.

[tytower]

Thanks

[tytower]

Well done . something new it seems

[gada888]

VeryCool,i am gonna make this.Thankssssssssssss.

[meraki]

Very nice little drummer!

It would be nice and make your instructable more complete, if you could provide details about the circuit and the sketch, as well as the cost of materials used.

[Studvio]

Hi Meraki, thanks for that. More details about the circuit and devices' connection to Arduino pins are to be found in the comments section in the .INO sketch file itself, and they should be self explanatory in conjunction with the attached schematics. However, should you require more details about it, I'd be more than happy to provide it to you.

In regards to the cost of materials, apart from the standard Arduino UNO board, Bluetooth shield / module, 2 x servo motors, 2x capacitors, 10 x (optional) LEDs and resistors (all of which I'm sure one can find and buy from various suppliers at different prices), I can only think of the Xylophone parts as an additional cost - I paid 30 euro for two of them, as I needed an additional A# note for the Happy Birthday Song (but that's another story :-) ), and I had to adjust one note from B to A# by cutting a small piece from that metal bar.