Research¶
First prototype¶
In the Computer Aided Design week I made a 3D model of a servo pan tilt head that can be used as a first prototype of my final project. Once I had the model I went ahead and built it. Here it can be seen in action:
Sun tracker¶
In the Computer Controlled Cutting week I designed a cross structure to upgrade the pan tilt head to be a sun tracker. Once I had the design I produced it using the laser cutter and I created a simple circuit on a stripboard.
In the Electronics Production week I learned new techniques to produce circuits and I decided to apply them straight away by redesigning my sun tracker circuit from the previous week.
This image shows both versions of the sun tracker:
And this is the second version in action:
Half a bike heliostat¶
In the Networking and Communications week I made a full-sized heliostat prototype. In this video I’m making some test moves by controlling the steppers with an arduino CNC shield.