Per email from Liz Landis: One of our new exhibits needs a push button to play some prerecorded audio. I thought that this would be a great way to test out using Arduinos as low cost solutions in our exhibit spaces. I found this solution and wanted to see what you think. Originally, I was hoping just to extend the play button of an mp3 player to a button, but then realized that all of those are play/pause buttons. That won't work for us.
J - so we need an Arduino Uno, a Wave Shield Kit, a memory card sized to fit the audio file(s), and depending on how much of the exhibit is done the button, speaker(s), amplifier (if needed), and a case for the electronics
Other hardware as required to hook things up (TBD)
Path forward
J. or Joe need to arrange for a visit to the Museum to document the current design of the exhibit so we can work out the remaining details of the project
Need to discuss ordering an Arduino Uno and a Wave Shield Kit with Liz so we can go ahead and start experimenting with the key pieces of technology involved
The voice over is all new for the box so we can choose all accompanying hardware (button, speakers, etc)
Voice over will be around a minute, so almost any size sd card will do
Boonshoft already had a set of powered speakers for the installation (Dayton diode took them back to the space)
Need power adapter for the Arduino (Dayton Diode will spec one, and then see if Boonshoft has one)
Boonshoft had a spare exhibit button to use (Dayton diode took them back to the space); still need to identify its source and part number for the bill of materials
Exhibit behavior:
button pressed when not playing a file, begin playback
button pressed when playing a file, do nothing and finish current playback
Installing the button may be a little tight so will prototype function first, then demo at Boonshoft before designing final install (see pictures below)
Boonshoft gave Dayton diode a 1 GB SD card for the project
Liz wants to come participate in the build process, so keep her informed about work sessions
Path forward
Waiting on the Wave Shield to be shipped to Boonshoft (Liz will let Joe and J. know when it is in)
Joe and J. will spec a power adapter in the mean time
Joe and J. to coordinate build time with Liz so she can participate in the build
After the meeting, Joe and J. discussed possible upgrades for the project.
Use an Arduino kit or bare embedded processor to save money
Expand the number of buttons to allow for the playback of multiple sound files [J - To facilitate adding additional buttons, we could also connect the buttons with a standard cable/connector type (RCA maybe?)], this is just a matter of adding
additional physical buttons
additional sound files
switching code to determine which button was pressed and then playing the corresponding file
Video of a cloud chamber from J.'s visit to NY Hall of Science¶
We did not wire up the button, just set the arduino to play a file (see attachments: DO.WAV) in a loop with 1 second delay
Wave Shield worked (note, first demo file would not load, will need to be sure to pay attention to the file conversion notes)
Review Wave Shield Source code
discussed how the program worked line by line
Develop punch list to finish the project
need physical adaptor for the arduino's power supply (source = Radio Shack)
Items to finish wiring up the button
2 female RCA connectors to hook up to the arduino and the button so we can connect the button with an RCA cable (maybe just buy a short RCA cable with female ends instead of male ends)
6' RCA cable
10 Kohm resistor
misc. wire, etc for hooking everything up
Audio file from Boonshoft
Look into buying an enclosure for the arduino to be mounted in
After presenting an Introduction to Open Source Hardware at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery October Pub Science event, Dayton Diode was asked to help with a new exhibit at the museum. Boonshoft needed an exhibit to play a prerecorded message when visitors pressed a button on the exhibit. Given the recent presentation on the Arduino and Open Source Hardware, everyone agreed to develop this project as an open source hardware project using an Arduino as the controller.