Conductor Elmo



At Fab Academy, students build machines in groups as the assignment of Machine Building week.
Since physical gathering was not allowed during COVID-19 lockdown, 7 students in Japan gathered online to make MODS.
Everyone built their individual music machine, and played them together over ZOOM following the signals sent through MQTT.

I made Conductor Elmo, with Elmo’s limps attached to servo motors, dancing and conducting.
(In the video it was still the prototype with mechanisms created with LEGO with Elmo attached to alcohol bottles :P)



I used ESP32 to control the movement of servo motor, which was rather simple,
while more effort was put on designing the acrylic holder of Elmo.

I was able to experiment with various fundamental motion systems with LEGO and Fusion360.

I ended up with a design using gears, and wholes to fix the motors onto the acrylic.

You can find the group documentation here,
and details of Conductor Elmo making here.

The project was also featured on the highlight reel of Fab Academy 2020 at Fabx Live.
It was also showcased on DIY MUSIC on DESKTOP - an online event by Make: Japan.