BINUS UNIVERSITY Students Create Automatic Angklung Instrument

BINUS UNIVERSITY students Mr Marcel Saputra and Mr Christian Lokonanta created an electronic ‘angklung’ — a musical instrument from Indonesia made from bamboo tubes which are uniquely carved to produce a resonant pitch when struck — as part of their final year projects.

The School of Computer Science students used Raspberry Pi, a credit-sized single-board computer that is often used to enable people of all ages to explore computing. The computer has the capabilities a standard desktop computer from browsing the internet to making spreadsheets to word processing. For the electronic angklung, the Raspberry Pi computer sends a signal to an actuator — the component responsible for movement — which acts similarly to the central locking system in car doors. This is combined with a spring that allows for backwards and forwards motion. Songs can be downloaded onto the computer and played automatically, and the frequency of each tone has an average error of just 0.253%, meaning that the sounds produced are identical to that of the actual instrument.

This latest project demonstrates BINUS UNIVERSITY’s longstanding expertise in IT education. Supported by cutting-edge teaching facilities and strong industry network, graduates are well-equipped to compete in today’s era of technological-centred development.