Arduino-Controlled Robotic Drum via randofo
For years I have been telling anyone who listens that I was going to build a robotic drum. Most people kind of shrugged indifferently. Even as I built it, most people kind of glanced over at it and conveyed doubtfulness. It seemed like no one but myself was convinced of just how awesome it was going to be.
I received a lot of snarky comments about how I was making a strange annoying noise maker. When I finally go it set up for the trial run, I quickly silenced the naysayers. This robotic drum blew everyone away. I was finally able to convey my vision and explain why someone would ever want to build a robotic drum.
The reason to build a robotic drum is because it is plain super-awesome. It keeps a beat like clockwork. You can slow down and speed up any drum beat with precision and ease. It can even play things a real human drummer could never do.
I intend to use mine for rocking out. The current plan is to program it with different drum beats and play guitar along with it.
I decided to use linear actuators (car door lock motors to be exact), and Arduinos with motor controller shields simply for ease of use and duplication. I am sure there are other more elegant ways to interface with the motors, but this is by far the easiest.
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