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observation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B91tozyQs9M It’s about puffer fish that creates a beautifully perfect symmetrical art. The purpose of it is to grab female attention. The only tools of it is its fins. It also uses shells for decoration.
This paperhttps://www.nature.com/articles/srep02106 on the Role of Huge Geometric Circular Structures in the Reproduction of a Marine Pufferfish points out that
The pattern is specially made for 1)controlling the water flow using valleys dug at various angles in a radial direction and nests constructed surrounded by radially aligned peaks and valleys 2) comprising fine sand particles using irregular patterns
“The circular structure not only influences female mate choice but also functions to gather fine sand particles in nests, which are important in female mate choice.”
This is how the pufferfish construct the pattern during the whole process (comparison between initial and final): [might be helpful if we want to draw our own]
2. model:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztax9lCE-Mk Table that creates sand art with marble that rolls by itself
This article explains the principle of how the table workshttps://readwrite.com/2018/11/01/sisyphus-table-where-art-and-technology-merge/. This pic can illustrate it well.
There is a stepper that decides the direction. The 2 sisbot boards help controls the magnet that pulls the metal ball. When the table gets bigger, the stepper is substituted for a servo that goes faster.
3. implementation: We want to mimic the pufferfish’s geometric circular structure using the method provided by the sisyphus table. However, we want to use the kittenbot with a magnet attached to be behind the table, pulling the ball on the table to draw the patterns. How to program the kittenbot to move as the direction we wanted is the key. Here is the example of the kittenbot drawing a picture: https://kittenbot-docs-en.readthedocs.io/en/latest/kittenbot/10DrawingRobot.html https://www.hackster.io/44128/using-kittenblock-to-control-a-drawing-robot-144cb6. However, the module used in both of the blogs seem to be different from ours. We may try to figure out a way to control the kittenbot by ourselves, or buy a new module.
Adding an electromagnet may help create different depth of the lines that the ball draws—we may experiment that if we have the time.