Week 4

Summary:

• Continued clay mold for Mario
• Began building internal head structure
• Coded servo motors
• CADD sketch for the JAW
• Latex is coming!

What's happening!

Today in lab, Gary started working on the CADD model for the dragon's jaw. Because we are planning on making the jaw open and close, it is best if we 3-D print it so that the hinge is built in. He is making the bottom and jaw separately and interlocking the two with a pin. 

Peter started working on the inside structure for the dragon head. We decided it was best to K'Nex so there is some rigidity in the piece. Pete grew up playing K'nex so he loved to be a little kid again!

James and I soldered a board and wires together to create a permanent pin compartment. 

Arjun started working on the code for the servo motors while I finalized the code for the ultrasonic sensors. There is a slight problem though, a single LED stays lit no matter what the sensor reads. We have checked every source of error, between coding, electrical and logical. We cannot identify the source of this error. On a slightly less negative note, the dragon head is giving Kate some trouble. The front snout of the head cannot support its own weight and fell off. We have since repaired the damage.

On a lot more positive note, Professor Terranova ordered two gallons of Latex which should hopefully arrive by Tuesday!

Week 3

Summary:

• Progress on clay Mario
• More Soldering!
• Testing the Ultrasonic Sensor
• Future Planning

Hey Hey Hey, did you miss us?

Today in lab, Kate started the clay model for the dragon head and is doing a fantastic job. However, everyone please pray for Kate for she has suffered a tragic injury. The savage dragon head slashed back at her as she tried to tame it, resulting in a cut on her finger. Yet, she is still trudging forward. What a brave soldier!

James has continued his soldering quest and has moved onto soldering the arduino shield to the power supply. Yes, the same power supply he scavenged off an old computer on the street. Hey, reuse, reduce, recycle right?

Gary and I started testing the Ultrasonic sensors on the Arduino IDE. For the first half of lab, we were flustered because we were doing everything right, but an error kept occurring when we tried to upload the code to the board. Turns out, we were working with a faulty board the whole time! Professor Terranova tossed that old board and gave us a new one so everyone's a happy camper now. 

We tested the sensor by graphing the sensor value and the measured value using rulers and people. We created a narrow passageway for the waves to pass through to simulate how the sensor would read when inside the dragon's mouth.

Lastly, we mapped out the rough sketch for the psuedocode this past week!

Week 2

Summary:

• Bill Of Materials created
• CADD sketch of dragon head finalized
• Rough Dimensions established
• Ordered Worm motors
• Further Communication

Welcome Back!

We have finalized the bill of materials. Kate will go window shopping at Plaza on Chestnut street and note prices for latex and clay. The CADD sketch of the dragon head is finally finished!(S/O Kate for doing an awesome job)

We decided to use worm gear motors to move the neck up and down because they are low rpm, high torque, and will not backdrive if the load is too heavy. Furthermore, the locking mechanism for worm gears are preferred for when power is not applied. We established a rough dimension of 2 feet wide and 3 feet deep for the cave. The head's dimension will be 8 inches high and 12 inches long. The neck will be about 6 inches to be proportionate to the rest of the figure.

James soldered the Adafruit Motor Shield V2 together. The Innovation studio did not have enough stacking header pins so we ordered two sets of them. These are needed to solder two Shields together and we need two Shields for the larger Servo capability. 

We discussed the possibility of Terranova buying the Latex and clay for the entire course and future references rather than us buying them for this singular project. He will get back to us about this.

We checked out two ultrasonic sensors and two red LED pins from the studio and researched how the ultrasonic sensors worked by reading the Arduino library. 

Last but not least, we all agreed to meet up this weekend in the Millennium MPR room to further work on this.

Week 1

Summary:

• Blogger Setup
• Began Project Proposal 
• Established meetings outside of class
• Exchanged numbers and communication methods
• Brainstorming!!

Hey!

Today was the first day we began brainstorming our idea. As we are a larger group, more things are expected of us and we listed some of the ways we plan to tackle this issue. We will incorporate both the aesthetic and testing aspects in our project. Our motivation for this project comes from our school's mascot, Mario the Dragon. The final project will be a dragon head peeking out of a cave. As we all live in Millennium Hall, we will be utilizing the Multipurpose Room in the lobby of the building to hold a majority of our meetings.