Studio M5 Records the Zumbyes

Studio M5 is undertaking its first major recording project. The project involves recording the Zumbyes, an Amherst College a capella group. They are in the process of recording their latest album and are looking to record 10 to 12 songs in the studio.

Recording sessions have already started with two songs having been completed thus far. The project will continue on as classes finish up and will extend into the better part of May. Samples of the album will be released soon, so stayed tuned!

For more information regarding the project, contact James Rutter (jamesdavidrutter@gmail.com).



The Zumbyes warming up in the Great Room, M5.

Ben Johnson - USB Audio Interface Device

Come check out Ben's Senior Honor's Thesis Project tomorrow, Tuesday, May 4th at 4pm in M5.


Project Description:
USB Audio Interface Device, a device used for recording high-quality analog audio to a laptop for digital mixing and mastering. The device is meant to serve as a low-cost alternative to using professional recording services or purchasing expensive recording interfaces that can cost thousands of dollars. Other audio interfaces have built-in mixers, digital effects, sound filters, and other functionality that most musicians already have built-in to their practice/gig gear. The device will allow part-time musicians and hobbyists to record high-quality digital audio at home using practice/live gig equipment by bridging existing gear to a computer, removing the need to purchase what is virtually the same set of gear twice. By stripping away functionality that can be found in other stages of the recording process (for example, digital effects and mixing capabilities in a live mixing board), the USB Audio Interface is a much cheaper device that seeks to provide the same quality of sound as professional recording studios.

Short Bio:
Ben Johnson, 22 from Scituate MA. He is a senior Computer Systems Engineering major in the ECE department. The USB Audio Interface Project is an attempt to improve his previous attempts at home recording music with several bands he played in throughout high school.

ECE-UMass Theater Collaboration (Update)

For those of you who have not been following us, this project required us to design a control for a 5 HP stepper motor for the UMass Theater Department, as well as make a mechanism to control the hands of an analog clock. These things are being used in UMass' production of "Little Shop of Horrors" which runs until Saturday, April 24.


So far we have finished both the stepper motor and clock controls. The clock is controlled by an Arduino sending serial RS-485 commands (via a MAX485 chip) to a stepper motor controller which moves the hands. The stepper motor is controlled by a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) using digital inputs/outputs. It takes inputs from the control box that we built and sends commands to the DURApulse motor controller. Now that our primary goals have been achieved, the only minor goals left to accomplish are writing documentation and instructions for use, along with transferring the DURApulse and PLC from the older wooden box to the new and more organized metal box.



Love,
UMass Theater Collaboration
\\(~.~)//

Nolan Bushnell at M5!!!

Emma5: Coming together! - Quick Demo Video!!!

Hey guys,

so Emma5 is coming together.

The 485 network works.

Text-to-speech works.

Our motor control works.

Our wireless connection between Emma's brain and Houston is fully functional.

Now we need to get our Power team to tie up their final knots and debug a couple of sensor/webcam issues, and then Emma will be golden!

Drive Circuit on Breadboard - Complete

Next week's blog post will have a more elaborate explanation of everything because after class was done today, Houston was controlling the speed of the DC motor, which was connected to the RS-485 network, which was connected to Emma's brain.... So think about that for a week, and get ready to get your mind blown in 7 days!!!!!

Emma5: Pictures!!!!!!

Hey everyone,
so since all the groups are still finalizing their subprojects, little big accomplishments have been made. So in the sake of keeping everyone posted on what's going on, this entry will contain pictures and pictures and pictures!
A couple of updates are that the RS485 network is ready to go and that Houston and Emma's Brain have functional communication! The only road blocks to completion are the debugging of each subgroups.
Another announcement is the Circuits & Code (C&C) fair on April 24th 2010 from 11AM - 3PM. C&C will have students from SDP, DP123, as well as students doing Honors research present their projects. Hopefully Emma will be there and students will present where the project stands at that point in time!

With that said, here are the pictures

Emma5 - Halfway there

As we start approaching our project's halfway point, our groups are still working hard on tying loose ends on their given tasks. This mostly includes debugging of code/hardware, and just as we have been since day 1, we approach the creation of Emma.
The biggest issue the group is dealing with now (it involves all subgroups) is the creation of the RS-485 network. Although all the code is correctly written and all the prototype circuits for the Max485 chips, there is still a small issue retrieving the information to Houston. Although all equipment shows the right data, the computer is being stubborn and wanting to comply with all of our wishes. Soon the group will convince the computer to be comprehensive, so we have no worries there. By next we should have this problem fixed.
Once the network foundation is set up, all subgroups will be able to communicate to each other, however, each subgroup should have a functioning system.

Right now, our friends over at the drive group finally have the proper transistors and breakout boards to create their H-bridge circuit. The first picture of this post shows how studious Edmar is on the subject (you can't tell, but it is most definitely a posed picture).
The group dealing with the power supply for this robot is testing to know how to find out how much battery life is left in each battery. This aspect of their group is crucial so that Emma5 knows how much time she has left to run to a plug in a wall and charge herself up (although she won't literally do that).

Our video streaming and text-to-speech people are inches away from the finish line, where only software issues are getting in their way. Meanwhile, Ryan works on the "movement rationale" of Emma, where an accelerometer and a couple of ultrasonic sensors will inform the system of what tilt she's at, how close are objects in a certain cone view. This picture shows a prototype system embedded on a cool little two-sided RC cars (you remember them right?).In the next couple of weeks we should be seeing the groups merging and talking over the network, and finally some video footage of all this in action!!!

Emma5: Post-'Spring Break' Post

So Spring Break is over and we're down to the last month and a half of school, and this means time for progress...
The teams are still working hard on accomplishing their goals, and for this reason this post will not have any action shots of Mr McKinley (who is currently at the machine shop working on Emma's chassis). However, we do have some cool action shots of our ECE students drawing schematics on papers and hooking up wires to their prototype boards!
Most progress is happening in the code-world, but the group finally has a PS2 controller that will be controlling Emma!!! (see pic of PS2 controller with rainbow colored wires below.)So far it's still in 'progress-mode', but will be soldered on to a PCB as soon as we are ready for finalization!!!!
Our friends working with power had an itty bitty accident last week. While testing out their power control, a freak accident happened and exploded one of our Macs into FLAMES! If that were true that would be pretty awesome, but I'm just kidding...what actually happened was that the circuit in test was using the USB's 5V from the computer to power up the Arduino, and due to a slight misfortune, a surge current went through the Arduino and into the USB port and crashed the computer... no flames, but maybe next time.
This schematic will guarantee that no other laptop will take the fate of our dear M5_MBPro_04 ... or_07 ... well at least it wasn't a PC (no offense Prof Soules).
Our text-to-speech and video streaming groups are constantly working on getting their subsystems working and building a GUI to make these Emma-features easily accessible. We'll most likely have these systems up and running in a couple of weeks. Likewise, our drive group is still working hard with the SMT transistors and tweaking their Arduino code to make Emma cruise perfectly and elegantly like the lady she is.
Lastly (but not leastly ...) Houston is currently working with the RS-485 network system to get both systems communicating.
Soon, Houston will be able to send and receive commands to Emma as it will be able to "tap into" the RS485 bus. Not only that, but soon enough our PS2 controller will soon be incorporated to this entire shabang too.

In the next couple of sessions, we will definitely start seeing the mechanical aspect of Emma being infused with the digital subsystems.
And soon enough, Emma5 will be alive!

DP123 Monday Madness Crazy

Who gave M5 a welder, and a grinder?  And all that safety gear and clothing that renders one anonymous, and rather frightening-looking? 

Team Proteus5, subdivided into further teams, now has a cacophony of grinding and sawing noises to accompany their workings-on as the build team fires up the power tools in the corner of the backroom, the future site of the M5 fabrication lab, dubbed Fab5.

Fab5 is a the future facility that will expand the build capabilities of M5 to include metalworking, woodworking, and plastic and glass work.  We have, so far, a welder and grinder.

At this week's Play the Room, we decided against playing the room in the literal sense, with solenoids on the pipes and ducts and such throughout the Good Room, primarily to cut down on the amount of tubing and mounting hardware required for such an endeavor, as to save time and fully realize our goal of an electromechanical, MIDI-controlled instrument.
We have decided, instead, to use a metal cabinet that housed some sophisticated-looking engineering equipment, including a piece at the bottom (the power supply, perhaps) that features a sign: DANGER / LETHAL VOLTAGE.
We gutted all the cables out of it and found some promising locations for the pneumatic actuators we have arriving soon.  Also–our arduino software is looking good!  More on all of this soon!

DP123: LED Off the Grid Project

Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political, and economical aspects of the community it is intended for. The term is usually used to describe simple technologies considered suitable for use in developing nations or less developed rural areas of industrialized nations. In practice, appropriate technology is often something described as using the simplest level of technology that can effectively achieve the intended purpose in a particular location. In industrialized nations, the term appropriate technology takes a different meaning, often referring to engineering that takes special consideration of its social and environmental ramification. (wikipedia)

Project Description: To design and build a low-cost, safe LED-based lamp for families in Less Developed Countries (LDCs). The lamp will be powered by a renewable source of energy, such as mechanical energy, and will store the energy in capacitors.


This is a motor configured as a generator. The motor was hooked up to an electric drill and the output voltage was measured. A similar generator will be used in the final design.


This is the breadboard with the ultra-capacitors used to store the energy and the white LEDs. Students have already been able to store energy in the capacitors and power the LEDs up to an hour.