Grand Piano Arduino

Grand Piano Arduino

Arduino is a very popular platform to create electronic objects. One of the reasons that it is popular is that it is very easy to use, because you can plug it into your PC or laptop with an USB-cable and because It is also possible to combine different things like speakers and lightbulbs.

We made a piano. But we did not make a regular piano. We made it so large that you can walk on it. We use distance sensors to measure the distance between your feet and the sensor. Then we use the speaker to make the correct tone. if you would like to build one as well you can follow the next steps

In step one to six we will tell you how to build the electronic side of the project. the other steps are optional and not necessary to make it work.

Components needed

Arduino Uno board (1x)

Male to male wires (12x)

Distance sensors (2x)

Breadboard (2x)

Speaker (1x)

PC or Laptop with Arduino software (1x)

optional:

wooden coated sheet 244X122cm (1x)

black carton (1x)

Glue, scissors and a utility knife

Step 1:

Firstly you have to put the two distance sensors in the breadboards just like in the image. Then you connect the vcc port to the positive side of one of the breads. You also have to connect the 5V gate of the Arduino to the positive side of the breadboard.

Step 2:

This step is almost the same as the first step, but this time you connect the GND port of the sensor to the negative side of the breadboard. you have to connect the second GND gate to the negative side of the breadboard as well.

Step 3:

In this step you connect the ‘trig’ of the distance sensors with the arduino. You connect the first sensor to 3 and the other sensor to 4.

Step 4:

This step is not very different as step 3. In this step you connect the ‘echo’ of the distance sensors with the arduino. So the left sensor to 5 and the right one to 2

Step 5:

In the last step you connect the speaker. The positive wire of the speaker goes to port 11 of the arduino. The last step is to put the negative wire of the speaker to the negative side of the bread

Step 6: The Code

When you are done with putting al the wires in the correct place you should have something looking a bit like the picture below. than you can upload the script. So take your arduino and connect it to your pc. Download the arduino software if you don’t already have it. Download the script below and open it and upload it.

Step 7:

Cut the wooden sheet to a dimension of 175 cm x 122 cm. To do this we cut the board several times with our utility knife. when we were half way through we broke the board along this cut. But you can use a saw as wel

Then divide the sheet in 7 parts of each 25 cm wide. you can draw this on the board with something like a pencil .

Step 8:

After that you can cut the black carton in strips of each 12 cm wide and 65 cm tall.

Then you can glue these on the sheet in a standard piano patters as seen above

Now you just have to place the sensors next to the piano and make some music. When you place them next to the piano make sure you put the right sensor in the right place

Step 9:

Here is a little video of the project.