Fab Academy 2013

A Journey through digital fabrication
by Vanessa Montezuma

• HOME
• FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATION
• Principales and Practices / Project Management
• COmputer Aided Design
• Computer Controlled Cutting
• Electronics Production
• 3D Scanning and Printing
• Electronics Design
• Computer Controlled Machining
• Embedded programming
• Molding and Casting
• Imput Devices
• Composites
• Output Devices
• Networking and Communications
• Mechanical Design & Machine Design
• Interface and Application Programming
• Aplications and Implications
• Invention, Intellectual Property and Income
• Project Development

Link to class: Invention, Intellectual Property and Income

This week's assignment is to develop a plan for dissemination of the final project.

For this project I'm making a bird that interacts with its environment, but taking the main idea of that thought and trying to translate it to a wider public, I thought that an object that interact with its environment would be a good idea that can be sold to anyone, from public to private institutions...

My project starts with a bird, but it could be a million things, depending of what is the crowd I'm selling this idea to. For example, a bank would be interested in having its logo interacts with its environment, move, and integrate the concept of it to an image that the public could understand and remember even further more that other institutions.

 

Finally I would like to update on the final project:

I've been investing this days in making the mechanism. The past video I did something, but it was far from becoming something that would actually be a bird moving its wings...

After the last class I needed to find the motors. I decided to use servos, because they where more easy to handle at the programming stage. I bought two just in case and hack one of them to convert it to 360 degress movement (continuos movement) instead of the 180 degree angle that comes default in them.

I integrated them with my previously developed mechanism and it became alive... I only use ONE servo motor, attached to a gear that moves another gear.

 

I used this tutorials for hacking the servo: http://letsmakerobots.com/node/5086

Its actually quite easy, but be carefull not to open the motor to quickly. I nearly lost one motor because the pieces went flying all over the place.

Now the bird is already integrated in a single structure, I can think on the lights and skin, probably paper. Also, I am using the other servo motor (withouth the hacking) to make a moving head for the bird. But, for the next days I want to finish the skin of the bird, to really transforme my ideas into a real thing.