My partner and I divided up the work. He worked on the organization of cables on the breadboard while I cut up the sheet of cardboard. We helped one another in double checking each others work or helping out the other when we had difficulty. For example, he had difficulty connecting the circuit to ground and I tried my best to explain another way he could do so. He also helped me finish cutting and gluing as he finished the circuit first. Once we put the cardboard pieces together using hot glue, we added in the motor. We had some issues with the piece to attach the arm to the motor with but we simply replaced the piece with another that would fit better. My partner suggested that we customize the end by making a train, as the mechanism reminded him of it. So I drew out a train and we cut it out using scissors, which was harder than I expected. But, I am happy with the end result and we were able consider how we might apply this to our midterm project.
Question 1: The project, “Fish, Plant, Rack” by Andy Gracie in 2004, uses a robot that controls the distribution of nutrients, in a back and forth movement, to a plant by interpreting discharge of a fish observing the plant through a video (Wilson 118). The project is interesting in how the fish is not able to see and the observation is through video. I am also curious as to the correlation between the electrical discharge and how the robot interprets this information. The project is similar in how the robot moves back and forth. This project would need an actuator to convert the electrical discharge of the fish into an indicator for when the robot should release nutrients. The actuator has to then be relate to the charge to the action of moving the robot.
Question 2: As mentioned above, we have an idea as to how we might incorporate a similar mechanism to our project. We were thinking of creating a mini ping pong ball shooting game, in which a defender can move the basket. We thought we might be able to use a motor, and some lever arms to get the similar back and forth motion. But, we would build on this by having two buttons for each lateral direction. If possible, we would try and have each button coded to cause the motor to a certain degree in a certain rotational direction. As for how this use might be different from that of a animation, I am not sure, under than perhaps the physicality of the object. There is also a plan to use a motor to spin at varying speeds to launch the ping pong ball and another mechanism to lift up the ball. The lifting the ball will also be similar to that of the movement, expect it will be by pushing one button that will raise the ball into the launching mechanism. This may be different from an animation in that raising the ball will lead to the physical action of the ball launching towards the target We have not yet figured out how to accomplish all these mechanisms.