Project Brainstorm Ideas

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Project Brainstorm Ideas
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Door Knock Lock - Jay

• Problem As you add keys to a keyring, they weigh
  down your pants and jingle annoyingly. However,
  without a key to my office, it is difficult to
  keep others out who may want to steal my candy
  bar stash.
• Solution Door combination lock (Convert
  something you have to something you know).
• More Fun Solution Knocks (in the correct secret
  sequence) on the window of my office door will
  trigger the door to unlock.
• Also has advantage that I don't need facilities
  permission to install.
• And it would be cool.

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Peter Dohogne

• Homing Candy Launcher
• Uses a trio of microphones and a computer to
  calculate the position of loud noises within the
  room from the difference in times when the
  microphones hear it, then launches a small object
  (candy, ping pong ball, etc.) towards the noise.
• Requires three microphones, a rotating/aimable
  platform, a launching mechanism, and software
  fast enough to pick out the differences in delays
  on the microphones.

January 19, 2009
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Jessicas Idea Sheet Music for musicians that
wont fall apart around them while they play

• Basically musical performers have a hard time
  turning pages and keeping their music in order
  while they play
• So make it ELECTRONIC
• Provide a thin screen in which you can control to
  download sheet music and control in performances
  with minimal effort- these already do exist
• Also, make it so it can recognize specific tones
  and patterns so the device will hear where the
  musician is in the piece and change pages
• This would probably require three people due
  to all the functions demanded
• I only know basics in programming, circuitr
  y, practically everything so I will need
  those people

Aug 29 2007
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Hugbot

• A simple concept A robot that gives people hugs.
  Everyone needs a hug sometimes.
• Would incorporate motors, manufacturing,
  circuits, programming, and sensor input In
  short, everything this class is based on.
• Humorous and fun.
• Helpful to small children, especially those who
  have trouble getting affection in the normal way
  (autistic, developmentally disabled)?

Aug 29 2007
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Another student's Project Idea Hugbot

• He is cute, fuzzy, and hugs with affection strong
  enough to incapacitate a full grown grizzly bear
• Basically take an adorable animal and give it the
  ability to show affection with a friendly hug
• Must have ability to insert bendable wire and
  appropriate electronics into plushy, vulnerable
  body
• People one in theory (must be talented)?

Aug 29 2007
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Final Project Idea Dog recognition doggy door

• Problem With larger dogs, doggy doors become
  dangerous because thieves can break into your
  house more easily
• Solution Build a doggy door that recognizes your
  dog by its bark, and unlocks the door to let your
  dog in.
• Skills Voice recognition

Kabir Barday
Aug 29 2007
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Final Project idea Heated Cooled Koozie

• A koozie that has a 3 way switch off/heat/or
  cool
• Can be used to keep a hot drink hot, cold drink
  cold, or to maintain temperature.
• Skills Sewing or plastic, insulation knowledge.

Kabir Barday
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Robo-crab by Jon Perez

• Robo-crab consists of two forms.
• Sphere form will be a simple sphere that will
  move around in a way similar to these
• Once someone snaps the sphere will unfold into a
  crab. The crab will have various actions that
  simulate a real crab and some that dont. When
  left idle it will skitter back and forth at
  random. It will have sensors so it will not run
  into things or fall off of tables. It will
  scuttle backwards from loud noises. It can even
  dance to music.
• This project would only take about one person. I
  would need to learn about how sensors work and
  how to program them in a basic manner.

Aug 29 2007
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THE BEARSITTERby Chase Bradley
Georgia Institute of Technology
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NGGYU The Rick Roll Robot James Cline

• Features
• Speakers
• LCD panel (touchscreen?) for video and control
• Motion detection or heat sensor to find people
• Onboard small form factor computer
• Battery powered
• Sturdy Construction for taking abuse
• Uses
• Show weather, browse web, etc
• Annoy people
• Stream news or tv shows wirelessly

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Automatic Guitar Tuner - Jake Ritter

• Problem Tuning a guitar takes too long,
  especially given performance settings. Also,
  even with electric tuners people can be off in
  their tuning simply because dialling in is rather
  difficult.
• Solution Attach a tuner with motors to spin the
  pegs by small degrees until the strings are tuned
  correctly.
• Possible variations
• Create a whole device (one motor for each peg)
  which can have specific tunings EADGBE, DADGAB
  and so on.
• Create a device for individual pegs to tune to a
  single note.
• Need knowledge of motors and fine control devices.

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Enrique Santos - Virtual Rave

• Creates visualizations based on input of
  instruments and performer.
• Examples
• Shaking of screen to the beat of an attached
  drum sensor.
• Visualization of wide body movements attached to
  performers clothing.
• Potential Tools
• Microcontroller (of course)?
• Processing Programming Language
• Graphical Feedback
• Piezo Elements
• Sound Detection
• Motion Sensors
• Tilt Sensors
• Accelerometers

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Limited edition Fallout 3 Pip Boy I Feel Your
Pain eMuttRhys SaraceniCS 3651

• Problem Who has time for the teacher or nurse to
  track down a childs parents phone number when
  the child is injured? The parents need to be
  notified immediately.
• Solution I Feel Your Pain eMutt! Just squeeze
  the ailing body part with varying intensity, and
  the parent will receive an email notification of
  the injury and its severity.
• Pros Awesome, rapid emergency alert/toy fusion.
• Cons Child could forget to turn off the message
  feature,
• thus sending a false alarm to the parent.

Aug 29 2007
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Chris Sladky Internet Connected LED Sign

• Its already been done, sadly
• However, not by us
• Why? Its cool, and the skills
• and technologies could be extended
• to other ideas
• For example, the MIT Disco Floor isnt
• really any technically different it just
• requires different physical construction
• Whats needed?
• Ability to connect LEDs to PC for control
• Or, do we use a separate controller that
  interfaces? Not sure.
• Ability to construct a reasonably sturdy/nice
  enclosure
• Some Internet interface
• I know C, but it might be preferable to use PHP
• I dont have any of the skills listed above, but
  hopefully will gain many of them this semester

Aug 29 2007
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Chris Sladky MultiTouch LED array

• Why? Its cool. Multitouch is a hot topic right
  now. Non-conventional use of LEDs.
• Downside A bit complicated.
• http//www.cs.nyu.edu/jhan/ledtouch/ledtouch.mpg
• Whats needed?
• Ability to connect LEDs to PC for output and
  input
• Or, do we use a separate controller that
  interfaces? Not sure.
• Ability to construct a reasonably sturdy/nice
  enclosure
• Someone that understands electronics well
• Maybe thats all of us in a few weeks
• Cool UI to display the input
• Maybe a demo app? Pong?
• At the moment, Im sort of able to help with the
  last two bullets. That being said, hopefully
  well all be better able to handle all of the
  above soon.

Aug 29 2007
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Volume Off When Someone Knocks
Stephen Smith

• Problem People like to listen to music while
  doing things at their computer. If someone were
  to knock on the door, they might not always
  notice.
• Solution Place a censor on the door that detects
  knocks. When a knock is detected, turn off the
  speakers with a motor. When person leaves the
  room, hit a button to return the speakers to
  their previous volume.
• Useful. There are many times where people enter
  room to talk and music should go off. Great for
  offices, a dorm student whos studying.
• Modern Manners!

1.21.2009
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KMP Walking with Humanoid Robot

• Based on Humanoid Robot HGR-2.
• It has low memory microcontroller that can only
  perform a limited repeated action.
• It does not have any connectors to connect to any
  other devices.

Jan 21 2009
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KMP Walking with Humanoid Robot

• Solution
• Using the Gumstix and the Robostix to control 24
  servos
• It has 400Mhz CPU
• Wifi, Bluetooth, Ethernet
• , USB and serial port
• Have 2GB external
• memory.
• It is based on Linux.
• Robostix has 30 pins that
• can be used as input and
• output
• Issues
• No communication tool that control 24 servos.
• Robostix has only 6 PWM pins for servos. It needs
  24 PWM pins.
• Robostix does not have enough power for 24
  servos.
• And many more!!
• Planning to work by myself.

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Light-Sound Effects Processor

• Photo-resistive plate receives input from a light
  source
• Ideally, two readings zero voltage, and some
  range (probably up to 5V)?
• Eventually factor in color of light as well, so
  two outputs intensity (brightness) and
  wavelength/frequency (color)?
• Signal sent to an Analog Digital Converter (ADC)
  to convert the signal to digital format
• Process the input from the ADC using Python using
  arrays and a sound manipulation library
• Intensity of light corresponds to the volume,
  while color corresponds to a specific pitch.
• What to work on
• Find a sound manipulation module for Python
  (tkSnack?) or use a different language
• Figure out how to parse the data from the ADC to
  something useable by Python.
• Convert the grid-like structure of the plate to a
  matrix (2D array)?

Trevor Register 23 January 2009
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