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Frédéric Turgeon

It’s almost over! I’m now at the peak of my learning process and it’s time to link up the knowledge I learned during those two years and a half of studies. Most students have to do enterprise... read more It’s almost over! I’m now at the peak of my learning process and it’s time to link up the knowledge I learned during those two years and a half of studies. Most students have to do enterprise training at the last session of their study as technicians but not us, the tech slaves, in the TGE program. We’re still like tadpoles unable to walk out of the lake and we’re asked to jump to the next one. With all the knowledge we’ve gathered on all the different subjects like power supplies, electronic motor drives, all types of communication linking all kinds of electronic pieces, microcontroller programming, processors, data bases … We have to invent a complete and complex system on our own and we’re only allowed fifteen weeks to do so. Then all kinds of questions come to mind: What could I possibly create that doesn’t already exist or hasn’t already been done by another student of this college? Is it going to cost me more than I can afford? Is it too complicated to build in a so short period of time? Will it be motivating enough for me to make it through the end? I think this last question is the most important to me. If I have to spend that much time, energy and money on that kind of project, it should be a work I will enjoy doing and something that will be useful afterwards. Which of my field of interests could possibly inspire me? I’ve got it! Music. I’ve played guitar for about ten years and each time I’ve tried to form a band, the major difficulty was to find a drummer. So my fate is sealed. For the next six months of my life, I will focus all my attention on creating a metal human shaped drumming robot. By using an existing program with drum tracks and an external system (to be created) that will enable the output signal of the sound card of my computer to send the correct command to each arm and foot of the robot, I will be able to make my robot play any drum track I can download. I saw a very impressive model with four arms that some German guy has assembled. It actually plays in a rock band. By the way, thank you guys. The videos you published on the internet helped me a lot to draw the arm design. Without copying it, it gave me great ideas. Maybe one day, every guitar player in the world will have a robot like mine to practice as a band. If robotics can be used to replace some household needs, why not use it in our hobbies too. This isn’t going to be easy, so wish me good luck.

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