XYLUMOS

A Smart Toy for Kids

Description

For my final project in my introduction to engineering class, my group partners and I were tasked with building a toy for children in a kindergarten class. After talking to the kids, we chose to build a xylophone that would light up different colors with each note that was pressed on. 

Through this project, I gained insight into working on an interdisciplinary team on a full-scale project, from start to finish.

My Role

My teammates and I split up the project into 4 main sections, and I served as the electronics lead. This included:

  • Electronic wiring

  • Soldering

  • Integrating electronics into the xylophone box

Electronics

Arduino MKR WiFi 1010

  • Easily connects to the IoT Cloud

Force sensors (4)

  • Each key has a force sensor under it, so when the key is pressed, the color that is coded with that sensor appears on the LEDs

  • When the key is pressed harder, the LED becomes a brighter shade of that color

  • In order to extend how far the force sensors can reach so they can fit in the keys, I soldered wires onto each of them. On the Arduino Project Hub, I referenced a wiring diagram for pressure sensors to wire the circuit for the sensors

Push button

  • The push button switches the 'color pack' that can appear on the LEDs

  • After the button is pressed, the color each sensor is coded with changes

RGB color-changing LEDs

  • All of the LEDs are coded to change colors when a force sensor is pressed

For this project, my team made a separate website — see it here.

This project was one of my very first real engineering experiences.

In this project, I learned how to:

  • solder

  • iterate on a design (& accept that it still turns out just fine)

  • integrate electronic components into a larger system

  • work on a cross-functional engineering team for a full-scale project