A project for the Technology Ambassador Program by Team Meet-Your-Makey

The objective of this workshop is to teach students how to interact with technology in a physical, tactile way. By utilizing the Makey Makey device, participants will design and play their own instruments using everyday objects. This workshop helps bridge the gap between abstract programming concepts and real-world applications, making learning programming fun and engaging. Through this hands-on experience, students will gain a deeper understanding of algorithms and input/output systems in a creative context.

This workshop has participants create their own instruments and experiment with sound through physical interactions with their designs.

• Difficulty Level: Intermediate
• Target Audience: K12 - College
• Duration of Workshop: 1 hour
• Needed Materials: Makey Makey kit, conductive materials (e.g., fruits, foil, playdough), computer with the Godot Game Engine installed
• Learning Outcomes: The primary goal of this project is to teach participants about algorithmic thinking and basic input/output systems by creating their own instruments.
• Your Main Technology: Makey Makey - A device that allows students to use everyday objects as inputs for a computer program, making learning programming more interactive and engaging.

Technology Ambassador Program (TAP) is a project-based class that provides a collaborative environment for students to work with their fellow classmates on a semester-long project using technologies of their choice. TAP strives to increase participation in IT through numerous outreach activities and workshops that are designed to showcase the creative and fun side of technology.

Click the image below to watch a 30 second commercial for the project

(From left to right: James Broome, Khadijah Nixon, Alex Smyntyna, Hieu Dinh.)

• James Broome
• Khadijah Nixon
• Alex Smyntyna
• Hieu Dinh

• Anca Doloc Mihu - Associate Professor of Information Technology
• Cindy Robertson - Associate Professor of Information Technology

This project utilizes the Makey Makey device and the Godot game engine to create an interactive musical instrument. Participants will build their own instrument by connecting everyday objects to the Makey Makey and program it using Godot. The instrument will trigger sounds and interact with the player through key mappings, volume control, and recording features. Through this process, participants will understand how to implement algorithms in a physical, tangible way.

1. Alex Smyntyna, Hieu Dinh, James Broome, Khadijah Nixon, Anca Doloc Mihu, Cindy Robertson. "Synthetic Instruments Workshop: Engaging with Algorithmic Thinking", CCSCSE Poster Presentation, October 25th 2019, Auburn, Alabama.
2. Alex Smyntyna, Hieu Dinh, James Broome, Khadijah Nixon, Anca Doloc Mihu, Cindy Robertson. "Interactive Instruments with Makey Makey", CREATE Symposium, November 21st 2019, Georgia Gwinnett College.

1. Super Saturday Series(S3), Nov. 9, 2019, GGC. - Promoted IT and STEM careers to middle and high school girls.
2. TAP Expo, Oct. 10, 2019, GGC. - Promoted the IT field and the TAP program to college students.
3. Classroom Workshops, Nov. 11, 13, 15, 2019, GGC. - Promoted the IT field to non-IT college students.

If you're interested in more workshops that utilize interactive hardware, check out Project M's Fighting game!

• Makey Makey is a circuit board that allows everyday objects to replace keys on a keyboard, making it easy to create interactive and tactile experiences.
• Godot is a free and open-source game engine for both 2D and 3D game development.

• Godot is used to create the interactive game and input mapping for this project.

1. Download Godot Game Engine with the link below
   • Download Godot
2. Open Godot and import the project with the file below
   • meet-your-makey\Godot Synthetic\Project\project.godot

1. Input Mapper
   • There are eight keys (W, A, S, D, F, G, Left, Right) with instrument sounds attached to them.
   • Pressing down on those keys will move the corresponding icon and play the sound.
2. Volume Control
   • Pressing the up and down arrows on your keyboard will rotate all the icons and change the pitch.
3. Music Player
   • Play - Plays music function in the music script (res://script/Music.gd)
   • Next Song - Moves onto the next song within Music.gd.
   • Reset - Stops the music and resets the timer.
4. Recorder
   • Record - Will record keyboard input and output code representing the note played, time played, and duration.
   • Clear - Clears the textbox.
5. Instrument Tab
   • Cello - Switch to cello.
   • Drum - Switch to drum.
   • Violin - Switch to violin.
   • Piano - Switch to Piano.

Click on the image below to watch a 5 minute video walkthrough of our setup for the workshop.

Click here to view workshop walkthrough PDF file:

Click on the image below to watch our workshop video.