Walkn — Return with music in every step
Two years ago who would have thought returning to work was going to be the hard part? But here we are, dreading the small talk, the uneasy exchanges and the hovering uncertainty that you’ve met this person on a zoom call before.
In our weekly ideation sessions, the Rothco Creative build team took on this problem and worked through ways to ease the tension and enhance the fun as people meet in IRL. Ears turned toward music, the ultimate icebreaker, to get people comfortable and acquainted while also bringing a soundtrack to the office.
So after a week of rewiring, dismantling, jigsawing, coding, 3d printing, testing and a bit of dancing we created… Walkn. A compact smart jukebox that creates a personalised walk-in song celebration with the tap of a keycard. Using this bespoke speaker/computer, people first select their song (a life altering decision!), then when they tap with the keycard it activates a 15 second mini-explosion of light and sound. Now as employees step back into the office, they can enter with the same energy and personality as pro wrestlers entering the ring — accompanied by a booming walk-in track.
How does it work?
How did we make it?
➔Dismantled and routed a hole on the side and bottom of the old active studio speaker.
➔ Mounted a raspberry Pi and the touch screen attachment into the speaker enclosure. We originally wanted to use an iPad application but browsers do not support autoplay on the web UI, so you couldn’t do tap and play unless you had time to build a custom application.
➔ Connected an RFID reader to the Raspberry PI and routed out more wood leaving only a thin layer and glued in the reader to the top panel.
➔ Built a custom Node.js and React app that runs on the RP in kiosk mode. The application works where when you tap a tag on the rfid reader, it takes the UID from the rfid tag and using the Spotify API, the user can then attach a song ID to the tag. So when the user taps next time — it checks if that UID exists and then plays the music.
➔ Purchased a moving head LED spot light and RGB assignable LED strip and wired LEDs to Raspberry Pi to control the lighting FX. The lights are then controlled with Node.js and when the action is called by the user it triggers different programmed lighting FX.
➔ Unfortunately the moving head that we purchased wouldn’t allow for a direct on and off transition from mains power because it activates a start up sequence meaning we couldn’t use a relay switch. So to control the moving head, we took the remote control and by using an Arduino script and an IR emitter diode, found out the HEX code that controls standby and using the same action as the user playing their song to turn it on. We then set it on the back of the speaker pointing toward the light. Inside the light is a microphone that captures sound and matches with movement.
➔ We looked into a smoke machine but thought best to keep the fire brigade out of this.
➔ We 3D printed a baseplate and attached LEDs to signal different points in the application process.
➔Rewired the stereo output from the Raspberry Pi to a mono connection so it works with one speaker and still sounds right and also powered the Raspberry Pi, led strip and the small microcontroller with one power adapter. Using the little free space still left inside the speaker box, we used a two plug power adapter to hide the mains power for the speaker and the power adapter for the Raspberry Pi so we only have one cord coming out the back. Because the unit has a voltage regulator switch (and there was potential for use in multiple regions) this makes it possible to quickly modify it to use with an alternate plug.
➔ Designed the logo and we took an svg of the logo using tinkercad, brought it into 3d space and added mounting nodes. We then 3D printed the logo and mounted to front of the unit
➔ Spray painted the box blue to give it a bright and bespoke look.
Creative Build — Rothco part of Accenture Song
The change/technology/innovation arm of Rothco. We create prototypes that shift how brands interact with people and technology. We then tap into the Accenture network to deploy this at scale.
