Modifications to the track (mechanics)

Here is the modification to the track I made, based on the advice that Marianella and Yasu gave us on presentation day. Now the model is more accurate and works more like a printer as aimed.

Modelling the internals

I switched around the internals a little. Just a small revision, so everything works better and there is enough clearance. The green square represents the PCB. It wouldn't be that large but I left it big just in case.

Final Video

Case Design

The proposed case is made from clear perspex and glossy ABS plastic. I modelled the case by extruding a 4mm profile. We wish for the case to be both wall mounted and free standing.

PCB

This is the PCB it looks pretty dodge but I hope it expressed the idea well enough. The base of the plastic is there so that water does not get in. and there is a top cover also. This area has also got space for the rest of the electronic equipment. The idea behind it is to control the fish like a printer head is controlled. 

Track + Fish

The track sits above the fish which the fish run on. The track is there so that the fish are able to move around freely within the tank. The motor consists of a trans-axel which moves the wheels and the differential which allows the string which connects the fish to be raised and lowered. The outside of the track has a perimeter which allows the motor to be move around the outside.

This is a printer head  Mechanically it is similar to our fish moving system. I wish to model our system to work similar to this.

model making

This is the ardurino wristband model. I carved a piece of foam in the shape of a wrist with the wrist band on. My plan was to put lights through small holes of the wristband however the holes needed to be too big and I ended up breaking the foam in half and glueing the LED's into it.
The code in the ardurino unit controlls the LED's. The array is aimed at giving feedback to the user by flashing to the pulse of their heartbeat. My lack of practice with C programming only allows me to set the heart beat to a pre determined number. The LED array that Yasu and I programmed is similar. However instead of the lights strictly turning on and off, I would rather they glow and fade on and off according to the speed of the hearbeat. My array consists of "separating" LED light array so I welded 2 LED's to each positive wire. I thought that this would give it a trippy effect.  I envisioned it like this.


 Here is the code:

// Switch Input 02 (with if...then statements)

// prepared by Yoakim Vasdekis August 2011

// refer to Language Reference at www.arduino.cc for detailed descriptions of commands

#define pbPin1 2                        // assign 0 to constant "pbPin1" --- Push-button 1

int button1 = 0;                               // assign "0" to variable "button1"

int butStatus = 0;

int seqTimer = 0; // for led sequence speed

int seqDelay = 5; // 0.5 second

int ledStatus = 0;

int butTimer = 0; // for button

int butDelay = 5; // 0.5 second

boolean detectStatus = true;

void setup(){

  Serial.begin(9600);                        // open serial port with a specified baud rate

  pinMode(pbPin1, INPUT);        // set the digital pin as INPUT

  pinMode(3,OUTPUT); 

  pinMode(4,OUTPUT);

  pinMode(5,OUTPUT);

  pinMode(6,OUTPUT);

  pinMode(7,OUTPUT);

  pinMode(8,OUTPUT);

}

void loop(){

  button1 = digitalRead(pbPin1);  // read the pin state ("high" or "low")

  Serial.print("but:");                  // send "status = " to serial monitor window

  Serial.print(butStatus);

  Serial.print(" led:");

  Serial.println(ledStatus);

  

  if(detectStatus){

    if(button1 == 0){   // if both switches are "0" or ON then

      butStatus=1;

      detectStatus=false;

      butTimer=millis()/100;

    }

  }

  

  if(millis()/100-butDelay > butTimer){

    detectStatus = true;

  }

  

  if(butStatus==1){

    ledStatus = (ledStatus & 62) +  1;

    butStatus=0;

  }

  

  if(millis()/100-seqDelay > seqTimer){

   seqTimer = millis()/100;  // reset the timer

   int lastDigit = ledStatus & 32;

   ledStatus = (63 & (ledStatus << 1)) + (lastDigit >> 5);

  } 

   

  for(int x=0;x<6;x++){

   digitalWrite(3+x,(ledStatus >> x)&1);

  }

  

  //  if(ledStatus > 5){

  //    butStatus=0;

  //    ledStatus=0;

  //  }

  delay(10);                                    // wait for 100 milliseconds

}

To make the fish I had to model them in solidworks. This proved to be one of the hardest models i have ever made because of the excessive lofts and extra planes needed for the rounded body of the fish. it also tapers in at the front and back and at the fins also. The fish were transformed into a tangable form by the 3D prototyper via an STL file.  Below is the finished model of the fish inside the tank. The perspex model tank was made by my team members Bec and Lisa.

Group exercise and mood thoughts/ research

I found this article on group exercise and how it is much more effective than exercise done individually. This makes a lot of sense. Also, group exercise has a much greater positive impact on mood because of the combination of the social aspect and the competitiveness.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8257716.stm

Model In Action

The wristband model filmed at my house just as I was initially testing it.

Exploded Views

Here are some of the exploded views that did not make the cut for the final presentation. 

Solidworks for model

The solidworks model was made for the fish was made with an excessive number of lofts. At this point I dont know how big the tank will be so getting the size right will be hard. I know that it is easy to scale it down in the 3d printing program. I will have to make the fish within 2 halves and a hole in each half for a weight. I modelled half the fish then mirrored the half then cut extruded the original part.

Wiring Model

Filming

Here are all the scenes that made the first cut. I used Final Cut Pro to edit the video and splice all the scenes together. It was not a simple task, as can be seen in the final video, there are scenes that required split screens, titles and alot of cutting. I had to find time at my cousin's office to do the editing as at QUT we don't have access to video editing programs :(. I figured that the Rocky theme song fit with the cliché nature  of the video.

Case Design

 

The case is curved abs mould or extrusion. It has 25mm radius corners. It is designed to be wide enough for the fish to fit into it yet slim enough so that it is easily mountable on the wall and is aesthetically pleasing.

Wristband

Since I modelled the fish and the tank and was in charge of the video, Lisa created the wristband. I did some small sketches for her so she understood the internals and how they worked. We want to have an LED array on the band to give the user feedback on their heart rate while they run. This red one was our first concept. We decided that the black part looked too fat and bulky so we revised it and designed the yellow concept below which had 3 moveable sections. which would fit better to the wrist.

This concept allows users to slide the band up their arm for a tighter fit. Sliding it up their arm will actually increase the precision of the heart rate monitors.

Super Yoakim Bro

•Simple horizontal movement

•Projects interactive images onto walls

•Creating interactive and interesting spaces as a form of temporary entertainment.

•With speakers connected could also output satisfying noises.

•Horizontal movement combined with vertical movement.

•With sound effects to better enhance entertainment or message.

Note: Screw you all you people who said I could never live in a videogame!!

•Security scenario

•Applications are not limited to entertainment

•Scuffing sound and warning sounds can be made.

  One of the local gang members being scared off by a giant robot crab.

The projector is designed to be placed on the underside of ceilings to project the images onto walls.

•Three horizontal sensors

•One vertical sensor

•Outdoor Projector

•Retractable for vandal resistance.

•Made from 2mm Stainless Steel.

I decided to make it out of sheet metal as it is very strong and vandal resistant. Also I can make a model out of it easily. I will just flat pattern it and make a drawing of it then stick the drawing onto some cardboard. Then ill cut the cardboard out and the drawing file will tell me where to fold as well!

PYROELECTRIC MOTION SENSOR

How it works

http://www.glolab.com/pirparts/infrared.html

Advantages

•Extremely basic and cheap technology

•Detects single direction movement.

•Theory is that if this technology should work then results and experience can be improved a lot using slightly more advanced technology made for more specific uses

•Each one of these basic sensors costs $2 from hardware store.

I also figure that if I can create this video using Final Cut for the first time then what can be done with the projector will also not be limited.  

 

Pyroelectric Infrared Movement Sensor

www.murata.com/products/catalog/pdf/s21e.pdf

Idea Exploration Task

19

Idea 2 was clearly voted the highest.

Idea 1 was just a warm up to get my thinking going. I wanted a way for grandparents to entice their grandchildren to  their house. Personally sometimes going to see my Grandparents was a bit of a chore. Their house was always so boring. In my experience old folk generally dont have much stimulation. Maybe everyone was much more frugal after living through the wars. The device is an electronic map which folds out like a real map. One of the halves is a big flashing alert light which is supposed to notify the grandparents when their grand children are near by. Once the map is opened fully a screen is evident which shows where the grand kids are and below it are pre set messages that the oldies can send to their grand children. The map device is meant to be stored next to the old fashion styled internet enabled phone.

The map device is pictured below.

For me task 2 was dealing with showing affection through a device. There were the obvious ideas of having teddy bears that become warm, hug back, release a scent etc. The same could be done with a pillow. However by far the most interesting idea was the sex toys. A fleshlight for men and vibrators for women. Accelerometers could be attached to each with some kind of wireless transmission device. When more movement is sensed the vibrations become more intense and the fleshlight would also get tighter. This is certainly a candidate for the initial concept presentation.

I would like to go forward with this idea but i really don't have the "balls" to present it. It would be one of thoes things that could be really good or just not work at all. If it did go down well it would just be the novelty of the idea which would pull it through and i that jut wouldn't be a satisfying mark.  I think ill keep this idea and might make one in the future if i grow the "balls" necessary.

This third concept was also pretty generic. The theory for the first idea is that if someone is doing something exciting then their heart rate increases. So if a heart rate monitor could also talk to an iphone it could detect when someone is doing something exciting and possibly check people in at an exciting location.

The second idea was to have an actions per minute meter. This is similar to what video games have. In computer games, an action is when a button is clicked. So the more actions per minute generally means the more intense the person is playing the game. In the real world actions could be measured through some sort of brain activity measuring device. The more brain activity, the more more exciting the activity. and this could also be put through the internet and shown to friends etc.


Im still working on the projector which was mentioned in my first post. I tend to think of ideas and build on them over time. It has taken some form I guess. The main idea I want to show with these sketches is the series of sensors. I was thinking if you put sensors in a row then horizontal movement could easily be detected. That final massive circle on the right is the image projector.

Exploration

Im thinking about this projector idea mentioned in the first post.

These sketches dont tell you much i guess apart form that the projector is going to have some small sensors (the small circles) and may even have a folding out section (that little rectangle below the larger perspective square) I guess this gives a little detail to how I work. I hate showing form too early as form should be derived from function and I am yet to figure out the function. So normally i end up drawing what the object would look like basically

Taking Apart the ipod mini. Exploration Task

 This is a 4gb 1st generation silver Apple ipod mini. I bought it in about 2004. I used it for many years and in about 2007 I replaced the "irreplaceable" battery. The new battery worked very well until about 2009 when the battery exploded which pushed out from the inside and broke the LCD screen from the pressure. In 2007 I was able to open the ipod seamlessly, however since the exploded battery made an evident bouldge to the ipod case, i had to break open the case this time as there was no movement at all to slide it. The Ipod mini case is a very thin 1mm or less aluminum extrusion.

 The components inside the ipod are the white click wheel centre. the small 4gb microdrive HDD to the left. above the HDD is the battery. And to the right is the screen attached to the chipset.

 I thought it was interesting that the Micro drive was wrapped in a silicone skin. This presumably is to stop skipping in the hard drive, as it is a mechanical storage device that uses a physical spinning disk it is obsolete technology now that solidstate flash storage is prevalent. Note: while using the ipod I never noticed any skipping.

 Microdrive without its silicone skin.

 The HDD was connected to the motherboard through copper wires at the top of the device

 The clickwheel is merely a series of buttons as well as the touch control surface which i believe to be a circuit that is closed by contact of the skin.

 This look like serial ports that transferred data throggh the ipod.

 This is the hard drive controller. Cache and other features would be located on this board

 The Hard drive had to be broken open as it was sealed using three star screws. the microdrive is exactly the same as a normal hard drive but just scaled down.

I believe this to be one of the most complex parts of the HDD as its is the smallest manufacturing miniturisation I have ever seen.