Week 7

During lab, the group filled the air tank with pressurized air at around 80 pm. Since a connector piece had not be created yet to attach the melodica and tank, the mouth hole of the melodica was just held in place over the air tank spigot. The group wanted to test how long it would take for the 5-gallon tank to run out of air at 80 pm while still being able to produce a sound from the melodica. When the air was released, the sound made by the melodica was extremely loud, and ran out in a minute. It was clear that the tank needed some type of regulator in order to control the pressure at which the air was released, and make it possible for there to be enough air to last the entire arrangement of the Harry Potter Theme Song, which is approximately three minutes long. To find a regulator, and possibly a nozzle for the end of the air tank hose, two members of the group ventured to Home Depot. The Pro-Lift air tank was bought through Amazon, and not Home Depot, so it was a little hard to know what specific pieces would actually be required. The original nozzle was taken off using a wrench in order for to decide the size of the female and male plugs needed. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of individual pieces for sales, so most of the items had to be bought in kits. The group also to buy black paint spray, to paint the melodica wooden platform and make it look more classy.

After the wooden platform had been painted and dried, the Arduino servos were secured using duct tape. A K’nex piece contraption was also built, so that the melodica would not shift from its original position of the platform. During this week, it seemed nearly every physical aspect of the robot came together.