Mario (Main Theme) on Automated Xylophone

better quality video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RGec6RU49c

An Electrical Engineering 201 project built, wired, and programmed by Jon S., Mark W., and me. (University of South Carolina, Columbia)

Poor video quality.. taken on my phone. Hopefully Jon will post something better up some time soon.

How it works...
25 push-type solenoids wired up to a PLC (programmable logic controller), each with their own key. Solenoids trigger, hitting the end of a mallet, which rotates on its axis and strikes a note.

Programmed in binary (can also be edited in hex, octal, decimal) from sheet music to spreadsheet to program.

Current PLC program limited us to only 255 lines of code (255 beats), limiting us in song length... this is also why the song might sound a little weird. I was unable to program in the song with the triplets because the file size would just be too large that way, so I went with quarter, eighth, eighth to make it fit.

Materials:
acrylic, wooden mallets, bolts (axis of mallets), push-type solenoids, 24VDC supply, Allen Bradley Micrologix 1100 PLC, RsLogix 500 (software), switches

There were switches that manipulated song speed (pulse width) and song selection, and there was a real-time pause button.

This took about 4 or 5 solid weeks to plan, design, build, wire, and program. A lot of the time was spent cutting and drilling the acrylic... as well as figuring out ways to prevent some solenoids from 'sticking.'

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• PLC
• automated
• xylophone
• mario
• theme
• USC
• gamecocks
• solenoid
• electrical
• engineering

[aerocheder]

that is actually a bell set or glock i am almost certain it is not a xylophone

[justahbustah]

@aerocheder yeah, it's a glockenspiel.

[nycpntr]

NICE! but you need triplets where you have straight time on the ascending melody part

[justahbustah]

in the description...

"Current PLC program limited us to only 255 lines of code (255 beats), limiting us in song length... this is also why the song might sound a little weird. I was unable to program in the song with the triplets because the file size would just be too large that way, so I went with quarter, eighth, eighth to make it fit."

[PhoenixPhart]

Very nice. Is this using MIDI?

If so, I wanna see this running Hamelin's Circus Galop.

[justahbustah]

no, this was hard-coded in... it is possible to use MIDI though... we just didn't have the time and equipment to do that... maybe next semester

[dustyivey89]

im about to get into usc next august. i am currently finishing up my associates in industrial electronics, and i want to continue my education. i am excited to do projects like this.