Project: Ultrasonic “Air Piano”

Event: 2023 IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) International Hackathon

Result: 3rd Place Global Finish

Objective: The hackathon challenged undergraduate teams to design and build a functional, tunable musical instrument using a strictly limited bill of materials and simple electronic components.

Project Description: Instead of a traditional tactile keyboard, we designed a spatial instrument that utilizes time-of-flight measurements to generate pitch. The system was built around an Arduino Uno and an ultrasonic sensor.

• Pitch Control: The player’s right hand manipulates a flat reflective board in front of the ultrasonic sensor. The microcontroller dynamically maps this physical distance data to specific audio frequencies.

• Triggering and State Modifiers: The player’s left hand controls the primary push-button to trigger the active note. To ensure a full musical scale, we integrated additional button inputs as state modifiers, allowing the user to shift octaves and toggle sharp or flat notes in real-time.

Outcome: The project secured 3rd place internationally. To prove the instrument’s responsiveness, accuracy, and versatility, our final submission included a live hardware demonstration of the system being used to play “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes.