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Water Music

A musical fountain has been attracting attention at Hamilton's EXSCITE science centre, displaying the time of day in binary water jets, ringing chimes and responding to visitor commands.

Tom Powell, of Waikato Polytechnic's Department of Electrical Engineering, says that the project was aimed at providing an interactive attention-getter appropriate to the hands-on science centre.

The fountain's infrared detector responds to the presence of people, activating a choreographed display to the tune "Black and White Rag". Visitors can select a series of wave forms or can "talk" to the fountain and have it produce a watery display of the audio spectrum. A microcontroller directs the washing machine-sourced jet solenoids, a sound-generator chip and the in-coming commands from the control panel.

Powell says that further improvements to the fountain are being considered, noting that the addition of more tunes would provide variety, especially for those working within hearing distance of it.