Fritzing

The Musical Bench is an exhibit which makes music when people touch, kiss, or hold hands.

The Musical Bench is an exhibit which makes music when people touch, kiss, or hold hands. It uses a micro-controller to detect changes in resistance, via the copper armrests, and plays high or low notes depending on how much current flows through you and a friend. This exhibit is the result of messing around with many different ways of using the human body to complete an electrical circuit.

The original Exploratorium exhibit runs on a prototype board, but for this we’ve used an Arduino instead. This makes it possible for you to build it into a bench, a drinking fountain, or something that we haven’t thought of yet. You can also use this as a personal tool for playfully investigating electricity, conductivity, and capacitance. Have fun and happy tinkering!