The few months spent on the project have allowed us to trauma bond, and work together to face the challenges and coming up with different solutions. The project has allowed us to draw from our knowledge of the different disciplines and provide different perspectives. Here’s what our team members have got to say about their experience and learning points:

Brandon

I learnt that building a frame is easier than said to be done as many adjustment are required even after setting the overall structure up. This is due to the fact that changing a particular part may solve one problem but at the same time, it may also give rise to another problem. Therefore, there is always a need to plan multiple steps ahead and try to minimize this issue from happening or always have a backup plan in the event where one does not work. For example, the height can be re-adjusted accordingly to what best suit the design and working capability of the prototype.

Nicholas

I didn’t envision myself touching 3D printing a year ago – but here I am. The journey in learning 3D printing has been bumpy, with countless of hours spent consulting YouTube tutorials and fiddling with the different functions available on AutoDesk Fusion. But I think this project has forced me to both learn 3D printing, taught me to keep an open mind towards learning a new skill, and has opened my eyes towards such a useful tool that has applications in many aspects of our life. Ultimately, it has been rewarding seeing my prints being used for the project, even if the multiple prototypes have failed over the course of the project. The different revisions and problems faced have trained my problem solving skills and creativity – and that has been a fulfilling experience. Being in charge of item procurement also trained my imagination and attention to detail, as I have to envision how the different parts will come together, and find out the technical specifications to ensure the items are all compatible with each other. Ultimately, I am thankful for this learning opportunity and the journey along the way.

Isaac

Being in charge of the electronics system as well as the Arduino programming, it was a very fruitful journey for me to immerse in such a project, picking up skills required along the way. Having no prior experiences with electronics, learning how to program Arduino, controlling motors and microphones is definitely inspiring. As part of the project, we had to learn how to solder, how to connect different components into a circuit effectively, how to reduce electrical noise and more, which are skills that are rarely taught in a lecture class setting. Not only that, the insights that I have obtained during the coding journey was intriguing as well, where I learnt from the basics of pitch detection algorithms all the way to the details of Fast Fourier Transform and signal analysis. These experiences and skills will become a powerful tool in my future research career.

Marcus

Being responsible for the designing of the frame for the ukulele, I learnt to appreciate the complexities involved in hardware development. As a Biology student, I had little prior experience with hardware construction and troubleshooting physical components. The main challenge I faced was the evolving design of the ukulele frame. For example, we initially considered to contact a foam milling service to elevate the ukulele so the tuning pegs will be parallel to the ground. However, we later opted for a jack stand table instead – only to encounter a new problem: how to stabilize the both the base and headstock of the ukulele. Eventually, we decided to 3D print attachments for the base and headstock but this raised another issue: the 3d printed base and headstock were tailored to only a specific ukulele model. Nonetheless, we decided to focus on a single model of ukulele for the proof of concept, with the intention to refine the design to fit other models in the future.

This experience taught me the importance of adaptability. I learnt that being flexible in the face of evolving project requirements is essential. This will be invaluable in my future research career where the ability to pivot and iterate is crucial for progress.

Emma

I’m used to a lazier form of signal processing where the basic onboarding of a fundamental electrical signal has already been done for me, and I get to focus on the fun analysis! Working with the bare parts helped me appreciate acoustics a bit more. The process of learning how arduino code/syntax works and trying to get the desired result with our electronics was also interesting for me, albeit slow at times. Ultimately some technical takeaways from this project would be: 1) don’t always test parts to perfection, they can be working in principle and it’s more important to make small amendments before different parts come together and the pertinent adjustments can then be made 2) be ready to strip back to simpler working code in the event of issues arising, and keep code clean and well-annotated as well as modularised 3) be able to follow the algorithm along its time axis and have an awareness of what could go wrong 4) do the research, watch random videos from people who have done similar things before to get ideas, figure out the hardware and how it will affect software and vice versa. I ultimately enjoyed getting to work with everyone on a cool project I otherwise would not have thought to start, no less complete.