November 24, 2007
Reading for November 27th, are now posted. Enjoy!
October 2, 2007
To upload your thoughtless acts, create a new assignment page like any other lab. You'll see "Thoughtless Acts" listed as one of the assignment options.
May 24, 2008
This site has been archived and is no longer editable. Stay tuned for the next version, coming in the fall!
The Clucoo
Description
Our approach centered around a scissor joint we had left over from the "tightrope walker" (aka the sloth) project. The idea was to have one motion (and eventually one motor) drive both the doors and the bird. It was decided that tough chained scissor joints are traditionally used for coocoo birds, we were going to use the scissors for the doors. For the bird we were going to use a rocking pin in a plane perpendicular to that of the scissors. The two ends of the scissors and the rocking pin are drive by three sticks that all come together at the end. Pushing this joint activates the two scissor hands and the one rocking pin.
See video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
See pictures here
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Materials
Scissors - two chopsticks, one screw (for joint), bent plastick bottle cutouts and glue (to attach the chopsticks to 'doors'), two pieces of foamcore (doors)
Rocking pin and joint - stick rocking on a rounded foam core small piece tied atop the scissor joint with wire
Driving mechanism - three sticks attached to two scissor hands and the rocking pin; tied together with a rubber band and push pin.
Code
There was no code as we did not automate the device. Automation would have involved a driving servo motor attached to the back joint by a stiff wire (so it can push as well as pull). All but the driving back joint would be secured onto a carboard base. In this case the servor motor code would be about 160 degree motion (to avoid getting stuck pushing and pulling at 180 degrees) controlled by a pot - nothing we haven't done before.
