Hi there,
I am reaching out on behalf of the Science Museum of Virginia.
I am currently in the research phase for a project that is working to enhance our Live Animal Lab for those with visual impairments.
We’ve dreamed up a potential route for this project that may involve 3D printed animal replicas and we are exploring ways to create touch points on the actual replicas (possibly with conductive paint) that will trigger an audio file to play that gives some info about the animal. We are imagining the replicas to be something our guests can hold so I was exploring some of the smaller MP3 trigger boards and tiny speakers available on your site. I imagine the replicas to maybe be hollow so that all the devices could be stored inside…
I don’t have too much experience with any of this kind of stuff so I’m learning as I go with this (I do have an art/creative background and enjoy tinkering so definitely up for the challenge of learning something new 
)
Does this project sound super far fetched or is it something that can come to life with the right components, wiring/connections and hard work?
I appreciate any feedback or direction about where to go with these ideas! Thank you in advance.
Best,
Callie
Greetings. Thanks for posting on the forums.
If you are looking for a simple audio playing solution with up to 18 physical triggers than the MP3 trigger is a good solution. The hook-up guide is bullet proof and it should take you less than an hour to get one of these going if you are new to the hobby. All you need to do is crab a wire and short 2 trigger pins and an audio file should play assuming the file was loaded correctly, you are powering the MP3 Trigger properly and that you use some external computer speakers with their own power supply. This product is super popular with your kind of project:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13720
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/mp … BEQAvD_BwE
As for conductive paint, we find that it dries out and breaks continuity over time depending on the paint and how thick the coat is. Children are a hard variable to predict when it comes to electronics and I would recommend using a more robust method if you can. Using solid wires and momentary switches capable of being switched thousands of times is a good way to go.
If you don’t mind the maintenance factor conductive paint could work, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVvEQUbhar8&t=95s
keep in mind capacative touch might be too subtle for the MP3 Trigger to detect so you would have to use something like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13298
Hope this helps.
This is so helpful! Thank you for the quick reply!
If I were to go with the Bare Conductive Touch Board, I would still need to use some kind of button or switch that is attached our replica in order to trigger the audio/sound we would be using right?
I see that in the description for the Bare Conductive Touch Board it says “turn anything into a sensor” which sounds so cool + kinda perfect but I’m just trying to wrap my head around how we I’d make that happen…unless that means the object (the replica) itself becomes the “button” or “switch” once hooked up to this particular touch board? (so sorry if I’m not making sense!)
Sounds like a great project! Definitely “do-able”! (BTW, I’ve been “doing” electronics for well over half a century, and “doing” computers for a little over half a century…)
Anyway, I have two other things that you might want to look at as an alternative for conductive paint:
Copper tape (available from SparkFun in both 2" and 5mm width, both with either conductive or non-conductive adhesive, and our friends over at [Adafruit have [12" x 12" squares as well as some other sizes).
The other idea is that I know I’ve seen 3D printer filaments that are electrically conductive, though to get this idea to work you’ll likely need to have a 3D printer that has (at least) two extruders so you can make some parts of the model conductive and other parts non-conductive.
You’ll need to do some experimenting, but I suspect that if you go with a capacitive touch detector, you might be able to put a protective coating over the actual “sense” conductor and still have it work.
Oh, one other thought: You might check [Digi-Key for the copper tape, and also for copper braid (which is normally used for grounding and shielding) for a dizzying array of stuff!](https://www.digikey.com/)](Copper Foil Sheet with Conductive Adhesive - 12 x12 Sheet : ID 4607 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)](https://www.adafruit.com/)
Hi! I’m sorry I’m just now seeing your reply but thank you!
I will definitely look into these options, they sounds like great leads