Hey, ive been directed here from some friends at uni regarding my major project at university.
Im looking to build motorised, turntable based, stands for a pair of studio monitors. The turntables need to be able to move either way and track the users position. The idea is that i should be able to keep the user in the speakers sweetspot at all times by automatically adjusting the speakers angle in regards to how close a user is to the centre of the sweetspot triangle. I have never done anything like this before and im at a loss as to where to start. I have ordered a starter kit for the time being but it hasnt arrived, im just wondering if anyone could tell me how feasible this idea is.
Rotating the speakers is easy. You could just use servos which are very easy to control with an Arduino.
The tricky bit is identifying where the person is.
Are you interested in tracking the person in 2 dimensions - near vs far and right vs left or only near vs far?
Will the person be carrying some device that facilitates positioning her/him
What sort of space will the person be in? How big and will there other obstacles, including, perhaps, other people?
Some sort of camera based solution springs to mind, but that would be beyond the capabilities of an Arduino.
so it is sound. the motor is best via a l293 or similar.
now ultrasound
use a ultrasound distance device (better is 2)
turn right when a person is in range until both sensors are equal
turn left same
Robin2:
Rotating the speakers is easy. You could just use servos which are very easy to control with an Arduino.
The tricky bit is identifying where the person is.
Are you interested in tracking the person in 2 dimensions - near vs far and right vs left or only near vs far?
Will the person be carrying some device that facilitates positioning her/him
What sort of space will the person be in? How big and will there other obstacles, including, perhaps, other people?
Some sort of camera based solution springs to mind, but that would be beyond the capabilities of an Arduino.
...R"
Thanks. I dont think the servo's sold on here would allow for the weight of a studio monitor though, or would it? The weight of my monitors = 11kg each for example. I had originally thought to use face tracking to monitor the user position but i opted against it as i believe that would be beyond my ability to learn in 3-4 months and i think that may be more for a rasberry pi than an arduino.
There would be other obstacles, such as studio equipment etc and the tracking would ideally be both near/far/left and right but if it is possible to also control manually then this would solve this issues where the studio engineer is not mixing alone.
dangerousdibs:
"Thanks. I dont think the servo's sold on here
I'm not sure what you mean by "on here" but you can buy servos in lots of places and some are very powerful.
would allow for the weight of a studio monitor though, or would it? The weight of my monitors = 11kg each for example.
The servos should not be expected to carry the weight of the speaker. That is the job of the turntable. If it has good bearings it will not take much force to rotate the turntable.
I had originally thought to use face tracking to monitor the user position but i opted against it as i believe that would be beyond my ability to learn in 3-4 months and i think that may be more for a rasberry pi than an arduino.
This might be the best route. Start using a laptop to make the programming simple. I suspect there is some off-the-shelf software available to get you started.
There would be other obstacles, such as studio equipment etc
How will your tracking software work in that environment?
and the tracking would ideally be both near/far/left and right but if it is possible to also control manually then this would solve this issues where the studio engineer is not mixing alone.
Do you mean that manual tracking only is an option - it would greatly simplify the project?
I am sceptical about the enthusiasm of other posters for ultrasonic detection - especially in a room with obstacles. Also I suspect one would want to think carefully about using ultrasound in a sound studio n case harmonics affect the other sound.
My notion is to put a camera on the ceiling and have the person wear a white square on their head to make detection easy. I can see that idea giving rise to sniggers. But let's hear the alternatives.
You have not said how accurately the positioning needs to be - my guess is +/- 500mm would be OK