By Peter Cancilla, Harrison Rubin, and Terence Tan
For Musical Robotics, B-2023
“Perpetual motion doesn’t exist” is a percussion machine that uses marbles to strike interchangeable sonic objects of varying materials. the machine requires marbles to be manually loaded into the baskets at the top of the ramps. A solenoid is used to cover a hole that a marble would fall through onto the ramp, hitting one of the “acoustic production squares” (APS). It can be played through the use of an Arduino and Ableton live (Or really just a DAW that can make use of Max Patches). PMDE is also able to be played without being powered or programmed, simply loading marbles and pulling the solenoids back.
This project initially started from the idea of using drinking bird to produce sound, which then pivoted into exploring how perpetual motion illusions and perpetual motion simulators could be used to produce music. We had started with a design involving a inductive sensor, an electromagnet, and metal marbles. The idea was the metal ball would be pulled enough by the electromagnet to go up the ramp and return to the basket. The solenoid was added later to give greater control over timing and to re-sync several modules.
Videos:
The Sensor Works! (but the magnet doesn’t do enough)
All other videos appear to be too large to be uploaded directly here, so the following google drive link will give access to the others.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WEid0rnz4o3ZcRwdc2vbfezVlf8TZ6PI?usp=drive_link
| Bill of Materials (BOM) | ||
| Item Name | Quantity | Notes |
| Arduino Uno | 1 | |
| L298P Shield | 1 | |
| 12V Power supply | 1 | 1 amp limit |
| 12V PushPull Solenoid (BM-053OB) | 1 per module (3 total) | 10mm stroke 5N force 1 amp |
| Male-Male Jumper Cables | ~ 10 | |
| Chromium Steel 0.5” Diameter marbles | 10 | Must be Ferromagnetic material |
| Glass 0.5” Diameter | 100 | |
| 40 kg, 49mm Diameter Lifting electromagnet | 1 per module (3 total) | Not used in final design |
| LJ12A3-4-Z/BX Inductive Sensor | 1 per module (3 total) | Detection within 4mm |
| FQP30N06L MOSFET | 1 | |
| In4001 diode | 1 | |
| Adhesive Backed Felt | 1 | |