Christmas Decorative Door

The piano consists of 13 piezoelectric sensors that detect slight vibrations. Each corresponds to a specific key, and the corresponding note is then played via a speaker housed inside the piano. Each key is written on the piano, and Christmas melodies are also displayed above the piano for ease of use.  

The night sky was made by cutting a strand of twinkle lights into several sections and poking them through the poster board. This allows them to be powered via an output pin of the microcontroller without needing additional transistors. Furthermore, they had more individualized control and could produce a twinkling star effect using PWM.

Santa's sleigh required the most mechanical attention. Two motors rotate a pulley system that functions like a treadmill; the presents appear to fall out of Santa's sleigh and into the miniature NJIT building. At this point, they flip and travel back up to the top. 

Again, we designed a candy dispensing mechanism. The microcontroller recognizes when a user plays a Christmas song on the piano and dispenses candy. Candy is loaded into the building and dropped into a rotating wheel. This wheel dumps the candy and opens a door at the bottom for the user to take. A laser beam break system ensures the door stays open until the candy is removed and that no hands are in the way of the closing door. The opening is also illuminated to make the process more intuitive in dark environments.