Michael Ang

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SquidBot Testing

Electronics, LEMUR, NIME, School March 21st, 2006

SquidBot TestingSquidBot TestingSquidBot Testing

Some progress on the Hydro/SquidBot. I’m trying out different mounting techniques for getting the water spray to hit the bar perpendicularly. The bar wants to hang vertically, so that means the nozzle has to be parallel to the ground. The bar gets pushed around from side to side when the water is flowing, so I may need a more rigid mount. It seems like putting the bar on a pivot would work, or possibly I can make an arrangement more like a marimba/xylophone, where the bar is sitting on top of a support.

Since the water jet hits the bar perpendicularly there is a lot of spray. I kind of like the effect, but I need to figure out some way to contain the spray if this will ever be an indoor instrument! Or maybe SquidBot needs some pontoons and an outdoor pond!

I had considered trying to modulate the water stream using the solenoid valves to achieve different tones, but it looks like it will be more of an on/off kind of thing. Once I hack the valves for microcontroller control I can experiment, but they seem pretty slow.

The sound from the bar is still quiet relative to the pump, so I’m going to try using a contact mic to amplify it. Also I’m going to try connecting the bar to a low impedance metal resonator (sheet metal) to make a physical amplifier. The tone is also much higher than the fundamental of the bar. I may want to include some heavier bars (probably steel).

I’m trying to figure out how to move the nozzles to vary the tone. Ideally, the nozzles will still be perpendicular to the bar while they move. I considered hydraulics/pneumatics but possibly I can get away with servo motors and pushrods.

SquidBot testing pictures

UPDATE: More testing pictures

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