For a course project in Physical Computing and Prototyping, I designed and built Finger-NOTE: a pair of gloves that let you play an octave of electronic notes with just your fingertips. The idea was to create a musical interface that feels as natural as tapping your fingers while listening to a beat—removing all barriers between you and the music.
Each glove uses 8 capacitive touch sensors (CAP1188) on the fingertips, mapped to a full octave. Touching your thumb to any finger plays a MIDI note—instantly turning your hand into an instrument. Two extra buttons cycle through different instruments and octaves, displayed live on a small LCD. The code, written for Arduino, handles touch detection, debouncing, and precise MIDI “on/off” signals, using the Button and MIDI libraries, and Hairless MIDI Bridge/LoopMIDI for output.
The build process was both fun and challenging—especially debugging “ghost touches” from long sensor wires, which I solved by optimizing the wire layout and glove materials. The most satisfying moment was jamming out a tune with my hands and seeing every note registered perfectly, even with rapid, multi-finger play.
Finger-NOTE demonstrates how physical computing can create new, natural-feeling ways to make music—just by tapping your hands. This project pushed my skills in hardware, coding, and hands-on debugging, and gave me a new appreciation for designing tech that feels intuitive and fun.