1. Principles and practices¶
This week I worked on defining my final project idea and getting used to the documentation process.
Since this week was taking place at the same time as week 02, generally topics were kind of overlapping. I documented all the technical prerequisites for getting the documentation going in the week 02 assignment and will use this assignment here to talk about my final project plans.
What am I going to build?¶
My plan is to build an indoor climbing wall for bouldering. My kids (1.5 and 3.5 years old) love climbing and have successfully climbed a small test build of a similar indoor bouldering wall before. Now it’s time to make this thing for real!
Design constraints¶
- Should cover as many bases of the FabAcademy curriculum as possible
- Should provide a climbing range of at least one meter vertically (preferably more)
- Should have an adjustable angle (the kids don’t really like climbing 90° yet)
- Should carry the load of one to two teens (<5 years), preferably even carry the load of one adult
- Should be hideable in some way - this is going to sit in my living room most probably and I don’t thing I’d enjoy the aesthetics all the time
- Should have translucent/lightable holds
- Should be fun and challenging - with game modes like in the game Twister and/or different routes given by lit up holds
- Should have smart holds that can sense when they are touched and/or hung from
Design Sketch¶
Here’s a quick sketch from my notebook showing the bouldering wall. On the outside, it’s really just a wall with hand holds, nothing more. Most of the fun magic will happen in the electronics, which is hard to convey for me on paper - but then: I am not a designer…
Just imagine the hand holds will light up to show different routes or to tell you which holds to grab/step on. Imagine the smile on the child’s face. Imagine there’s a falling mat underneath for safety. Let your imagination run free, as I do. :)
Covering FabAcademy curriculum bases¶
Here’s what roughly plan to do in the classes of FabAcademy to work towards my final project goal:
- Principles and practices
- already over
- Project management
- already over
- Computer Aided design
- develop a small scale prototype of the general wall structure and the mechanisms to angle and hide the wall
- Computer controlled cutting
- validate and/or produce a larger scale version
- Electronics production
- build a microcontroller board/programmer for controlling the wall
- 3D Scanning and printing
- 3D print a prototype and different positives for the smart holds (>=5 designs for variation)
- Electronics design
- develop the PCB for the smart holds
- Computer controlled machining
- make final positives for molding and casting the holds (might need to be smoother/higher quality than 3d-printed)
- Embedded programming
- program the logic for game modes, routes, etc.
- Molding and casting
- mold and cast the smart holds (as these will be needed in higher quantities, one-off production will not really cut it)
- Input devices
- figure out sensors to be used on the smart holds
- Output devices
- figure out lights to be used on the smart holds (audio? vibration? other cool ideas?)
- Applications and implications
- ???
- Networking and communications
- ???
- Mechanical design
- ???
- Interface and application programming
- Program an interface app/program/website for controlling the wall
- Machine design
- ???
- Wildcard week
- ???
- Invention, intellectual property and income
- ???
- Project development
- ???