Light Up - Autonomous Piano Teacher

Light Up

“Light Up” is an innovative music-learning device that combines visual guidance with real-time error detection, designed to make learning piano interactive, intuitive, and engaging.

For my final school project (diploma thesis), I am developing this device to help learners improve their playing skills with immediate feedback and visual cues.

Why Sponsorship is needed:

Because "Light Up" is my final school project, it’s important to create a high-quality prototype. The design is complex and requires many specialized, small components, which are essential for the device to function accurately. These parts also need precise assembly, which I cannot do by hand due to their size and the precision required. With your sponsorship, I can cover the costs of these components and work with professionals to assemble the PCB to the necessary standards. Your support would be invaluable in helping me bring "Light Up" to life and complete my diploma thesis successfully.

Why I designed this board:

Learning Music traditionally is a tedious task. Traditional piano lessons are expensive, require physical attendance and the ability to read sheet music, all of which can be discouraging for beginners.

These are the main points:

• Expensive Lessons
• Steep Learning Curve for Reading Sheet Music
• Gets boring quickly

The way it works:

“Light Up” uses a custom LED strip to illuminate the correct notes of a preselected song on a phone or PC.

As the user plays along, the device listens actively, identifying any incorrect notes and highlighting them to give feedback to the player.

This feature combines both visual and auditory feedback, enhancing the learning process by allowing for quick error correction.

Error Detection Flow Diagram:

Hardware Design

The Hardware consists of a central STM32 Microcontroller, which has a digital Audio Input.

Because of the high power consumption of the LED-Strip, this PCB has USB-PD capability and supports 45 Watts of power.

PCB Specifications

• 1 MIDI Input Connector
• 1 JST Power Output Connector
• 5V, 32 Watts
• 1 JTAG Connection for Programming
• 1 Bluetooth 2.4 GHz Antenna