I made what I call a programmable music box that plays a xylophone.
Basically, what I have is a cylinder that rotates and you can put little pins in, and each of those little pins can hit a mallet that hits a xylophone, and so essentially, you can make a song that you can replay by turning the handle over and over again. This is actually something that I wanted since I was seven years old. I used to think, I wish I had a music box that played a specific song, but no one made a music box that played a specific song. So I thought, maybe I could find a music box that would let me choose what song it would play, and that didn’t exist either. So coming into this class, I thought, what if I made this thing that I wanted for my 7-year-old self?
Related spotlights
Sebastian Fernández
PhD candidate
Electrical Engineering
I was born in Cusco, Peru, located at an altitude of 11,000 feet in the Andes, where we lived with my extended family until I was 2 years old.
Read Sebastian Fernández's story
Alicia Sheares
Assistant Professor
Management Science and Engineering
I grew up about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia in Bucks County, where we were a Black family in a predominantly white neighborhood.
Read Alicia Sheares's story
Tinevimbo Ndlovu
MS ’24
Aeronautics and Astronautics
I’ve always thought planes were cool. I went on my first flight when I was 6, from my hometown of Harare, Zimbabwe, to Johannesburg, and the experience was eye-opening.
Read Tinevimbo Ndlovu's story