Servo-Cuckoo

Objective:

This lab allowed us to explore concepts in simple mechanics. The assignment was composed of two parts:

1) Create a mechanical construction of a trap door that opens and closes

2) Create a mechanical construction that moves the bird forward and backward.

Description

1) Door: We made two simple wooden doors that open outward when pushed by the cuckoo bird. The doors have elastic bands on the inside that make them close automatically as the bird retracts.    

2) Bird mechanism: We used a crank to convert rotation into reciprocating motion.

The bird is attached to the rim of the wheel from a spool. The spool is turned by the servo motor. Since the rim of the wheel translates in addition to its rotation, the arm (i.e. the bird) moves forward and backward depending on the direction of rotation. The bird pushes the doors out as it moves.

Video:

A video of our cuckoo clock in action can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yT8C2Rzgw0