Bennett's Remember-It-All

I learned two important things from the visit.

1. Projects are so much more fun when they’re shared. The children’s enthusiasm was contagious and inspiring. I left with so many ideas swimming around in my head that I needed a few days just to collect my thoughts together and differentiate the “possible now” from the “possible someday”. Of course, nothing is impossible.

2. The color sensor is not crayon proof. The colors get wonky once the sensor has been coated with a thin film of colored wax.

Initially, I wanted to give Bennett a fun tool he could use to help him remember color. Now I see the potential to help him explore and experience far away lands and cultures. We could give the device to people all around world. They could use it to create, record and share the colors of the world around them. Imagine the endless palettes of color and sound. What do the colors of the rainforest sound like? Or the desert? How about the oceans?

All the ThadenPierce children were excited by the prototype and much fun was had exploring what crayons sound like. The children are extremely close; Bennett is surrounded by love and support. To have any meaningful impact it’s essential to include the whole clan. They’re my endusers, as it were, and an unused tool is a useless tool. I asked all the children to consider the device and it’s possible uses. What do they want it to do? What would they do with it. Little Miss O, the youngest of the clan instantly wanted to know if she could have her own so that she could make up songs for Bennett. From there the children wondered if they could all record songs and share them. Maybe they could get others to join in too. They already collect postcards from far away places, why not colors and music too.

I ordered components from Adafruit.com, assembled and tested the individual components and combined them into a rough breadboard prototype. I also found some cheap portable speakers on Amazon I might use for prototyping and picked up a spool of clear PLA filament. I’ll post the component lists, code and build instructions soon.

My Mad Scientist space (at least, that’s what the wife calls it), is limited and I don't have all the things I’ll need for this project. Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have access to the University of Maine IRMC Center. There I can access 3D printers, laser cutters, a CNC and even a 3d mill. It’s a great space and a great program. I’ll include a link — check it out.

Adafruit has a great project based on the TCS34725 color sensor and the VLSI VS1053B DSP codec chip called PianoGlove. It’s not exactly what I need for Bennett’s specific case, but the tutorial is great, the parts are easily attainable for prototyping and the code is open source.

My initial idea was to adjust the design and the code to make a low maintenance and easy-to-use note/color trainer Ben could use to start building a color memory. He’s an absolute Harry Potter nut, so I thought a Remember-It-All sphere would be like his own personal Remembrall.