Recitation 4: Actuators and Mechanisms

For this recitation, my partner was Calvin. To separate tasks and work more efficiently, Calvin did the coding and wiring while I cut the cardboard and put together our mechanism. This was very efficient because when he was done plugging the wires and inserting the code, I finished cutting the cardboard and putting it together. 

As you can see in this picture, we inserted the see-through USB thing which is a part that helps to protect the computer from the high voltage in case the circuit was not built properly.

This picture shows the process of building the cardboard and inserting the motor.

After finishing the wires, code, and cardboard mechanism, we ran the code to see if the motor would work. In the beginning, it didn’t work, so we asked the professor, and she mentioned that the motor wasn’t getting enough voltage. We had to plug it into a new power source and that fixed the problem. This video shows the working motor.

 

This is the motor working with the cardboard mechanism.

 

Our personal touch was the ice-cream cone. I think this is cool because it can feed you ice-cream when it comes up.

Question 1:

Douglas Irving Repetto, Giant Painting Machine/San Mateo

This project is very fascinating to me because is using technology to create a device that can complete daily human activities without a human. This point has its similarities with my project because we thought of our project as a way to feed you ice-cream. Both devices can replace humans in everyday activities. From the picture, I think that the artist chose the specific pieces he used for the project because it is hanging from a wobbly suspension so it can’t be too heavy. Along with that, he also had to pick motors that would allow the painting machine to move back-and-forth and side to side to create a paining.

Question2:

For my midterm project, I am building a mechanism that can allow two people to confess their feelings for one another through their similarities. I would have two users, one on each side of our box, with yes and no buttons on each side. We would also have a screen that is visible to both users with a yes or no question. The users would reply to the question using the yes and no buttons on the side. If the users have enough similarities in their answers to the questions, and the answer yes to the question about liking the other person we would have a led heart that would light up. Along with the heart, we would also include a pop-up controlled by a motor if the two users are a match. I feel like this way is better than just displaying congratulations on a digital screen. I think this is more exciting.