After entering a "hackathon" competition, Instructables user "bonniee" came up with a different and imaginative entry - "Piano Stairs". It is a system that can turn stairs into piano keys, without any major modification. This is possible by using beams of light across the edge of each stair - and having an Arduino detect the presence of the light beam at one side, thus if the beam is broken the "key" has been pressed.
The data is then sent from the Arduino to a Raspberry Pi via USB connection, and the RPi can play musical note files that match the piano key being pressed, as shown in the following example video:
It's a fun project that could be temporarily added to almost any stairway, so to make your own you can find the required sketches and code on the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
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