Electronic devices - such as scanners, printers and flash drives - are indispensable in everyday life, but who's ever seen what's inside? Where are the printer's motors, and what would a concert consisting of several of these devices sound like? Students had an opportunity to get to the bottom of these questions and many others. As part of the course, they put what they learned in the classroom to use as part of a hands-on project. The activities reduced the students' reservations regarding hardware and also fostered teamwork between students in different majors.

The course's primary objective was to give students hands-on experience with electronics and microcontroller programming. In addition, students learned about methods relating to project organization and execution. The ultimate goal involved developing a functioning prototype comprised of several sub-projects. The students worked on these projects in teams of two, focusing on integrating the individual projects into one overall project.

When planning the course, the decision was made to apply an agile development model. The overall objectives were intially introduced and participants brought in their individual talents. They were given various tasks, ranging from “How do you control a floppy disk drive so that it can make music?”, to “Designing sound bodies and creating them in a 3D printer”, and “Developing control system software”. During subsequent meetings, participants regularly presented their results, discussed potential issues, and talked about how to integrate the project components.

The results were impressive! Students created a ‘musical instrument’ made out of used and old electronics, sound bodies, and microcontrollers and controlled by means of a web interface. They even composed an original song as part of the project. Everyone's enthusiasm was inspiring and their motivation to create something exceptional was unparalleled.