Radio Beats
A creative long distance connection through paired radios
DURATION
5 weeks
ROLE
Research, Ideation, Physical Build, Code, Visual Design
COLLABORATORS
Gianmarco Ramos
Advisors
Carrie Kengle & Bruno Kruse, Area of Effect, Code Literacy
Eric Forman, New Lab, Physical Computing
PROBLEM
Many people live far away from their loved ones and miss getting to spend time with them. However, current products available focus largely on replacing physical touch and don’t solve for missing a person’s presence or shared memories.
Concept
Music is a powerful and creative form of communication that can remind people of a shared memory and express deep feelings. We imagined a way to use this power of music to connect you with loved ones who live far away. With RadioBeats, you can share a special song or playlist with your loved ones simply by tapping the radio, no matter the distance.
Sending and receiving music
Tap a specific number of times on the top of the radio to select the song or the playlist you want to send to your loved one
The radio LED will flash green to confirm that the song has been sent
The paired radio will display a purple light to indicate they have a song waiting for them
Your loved one can place their hand on the radio to start the song
You will receive a blue light confirmation when your loved one is listening to the song
You can also choose to play the same song in your own radio
Onboarding
Upon receiving your RadioBeats, you and your loved one will receive instructions to set up your special songs
First you will set up or link a pre existing Spotify account to the radio
Then you will first select 3 special songs to share and one playlist that you can shuffle
These will be linked through the Spotify API and can be changed whenever you like
Once it is set up you will see your 3 song choices and playlist displayed with their corresponding tap inputs
From idea to reality
At first, we tested our concept by using a capacitive touch sensor with an Arduino to play specific songs through P5. Once we had the idea working we were able to have a sense of the interaction and what was working or not.
In order to make the radios work as standalone IoT devices, we pivoted to using Raspberry Pi’s to allow the radios to connect via an MQTT server without using a secondary serial to computer connection. These radios use a capacitive sensor board, a distance sensor, and python code running on each Raspberry Pi that allows it to subscribe and publish to specific MQTT topics on a server specific to that radio and it’s paired radio.
My partner Gianmarco and I both worked on the preliminary code and logic and then Gianmarco worked on pulling together all the components of the code into the MQTT stucture while I built the radios. Both of us were part of the final presentation and storytelling.
Final Components
2 Raspberry Pi 3
2 Ultrasonic Sensors
2 RGB Leds
2 Capacity Touch Sensors
2 Speakers
