Created by Juliette Rocco and Stephanie De Pol
We created a touched activated spinning music box. A sensor was created with tinfoil and a jumper wire. Through this wire, capactiance was measured to sense a person's touch and activate the music box. The music box continues to play for however long the person is in contact with the sensor.
The design went through many changes during the design process; such as using a 9v battery to power the circuit, and using a servo instead of a DC motor. The battery provided mobility and the servo motor provided better functionality for the figurine.
Using a variety of different materials ie) wood, plastic, cardboard, and metal, the music box behaved the same every time; as long as the object was touching the conductor, the music box played. This shows that the change in capacitance in this use case is not particularly sensitive to the material of the dectant. The material of the dectant does not matter as long as the capacitance measured by the conductor is higher than the threshold specified in the code.