Climber Extraordinare
The climber extraordinaire is an automaton which goal is to simulate a rock climber going up an overhang and rappelling down when he reaches the top. The climber’s arms and legs are made of springs and will therefore produce a natural looking movement (with the help of gravity!). Two belts driven by a motor generate the climb. One belt is for the left leg and arm and the other is for the right leg and arm. The two belts move asynchronously so that right and left appendages have alternating movement. The climber is attached to the belts with magnets. The climber is also attached to the top of the wall by a rope that winds as the climber goes up. When the climber reaches the top, the arms detach (the arm magnets slide off the belt magnets) and a touch sensor is pushed. The touch sensor reverses the direction of the motor. This causes the rope to unwind and the feet to descend thus giving the impression that the climber is really rappelling. The cricket will manage two sensors: one will control turning the motor on and off at the user’s discretion, the other will detect the climber reaching the top and reverse the direction of the motor.
Close Encounters
This automaton was inspired by the landing scene from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The automaton functions as a Finite State Machine. One cricket is used to control a sound and light display which plays a number of sets of tones and corresponding lights. The order in which the sets are played is randomly selected. A second cricket responds to the tones played and controls separate courses of actions for different sets of tones. These actions include: starting a motor to display or hide the Mother Ship; starting, stopping, or reversing a motor controlling the cicular motion of three smaller UFOs; resetting the automaton to its initial state; playing tones in response to the first cricket.
Interactive Carousel
Description : Simulation of a real world carousel. Mechanism is a set of toothed gears, translating vertical circular motion to horizontal. Base of carousel and roof of carousel spin in unison as gear is turned; horses are on poles that extend below the base of the carousel to out and above the roof. Underneath the base of the carousel (the very bottom of the device) is another circular base, yet with an undulating surface. As the poles of the horses travel across this base, they will move up and down the surface, simulating the motion of the horses in a real carousel.
Interaction : We have created three possible methods for using carousel; the first involves simple hand-cranked movement by the user. The second and the third are both cricket-controlled; the second would have external sensors to monitor a user's movement to control the device, and the third would be a simple coin-operated carousel, with insertion of coin causing the machine to run for a specified amount of time.
Scope : We will start with at least 3 horses on the carousel, and have the mechanism be hand cranked. Those are minimum requirements. Planned finished carousel would have external sensors for control, >3 horses, and music box.
Mr. Paint
Mr. Paint is a wooden automaton which draws pictures. Mr. Paint integrates the use of crickets with mechanical parts, a recent concept in the making of automata. Mr. Paint uses light sensors for detection of boundaries. It usesa variety of gears and an interesting wooden construction to produce the resulting painting motion.
A detailed design plan is here.
Soccer Shootout
Experience the thrill of a classic soccer penalty kick contest. Feel the heartpounding tension fueled by thousands of screaming blood-thirsty soccer fans. The game is simple but the rewards are honor, fame, glory, immortality and riches beyond your wildest dreams. Wind up your leg to the desired power level and take aim. But be careful, your opponent is not your average defender. The goalie, powered by some of the most sophisticated "smart circuitry" available today, will do everything within his digital power to stop you. So step up and see if you have what it takes to be a champion.
Whack-a-mole
Basic Version - Three moles will randomly pop in and out of a box. Each mole will have a sensor on it's head to determine if the mole is tapped while out of the box. An LCD may be used to keep track of the score.
Advanced Version - Three small men with hammers will be placed in front of the holes. Pressing buttons on the box will cause the hammers to swing down and hit the moles (if they are out of the box when the button is pushed). Sensors may be used to cause the moles to wait until all of the buttons are un-pressed to begin popping up.
video of automaton-in-progress
Wine Glass Orchestra
I intend to build a small wine glass "orchestra". I hope to be able to build three independent automata that will communicate via Crickets. In the first automaton, a wet cork will rub around the rim of a partially filled wine glass to produce a hum. In the second, a fork will tap against a wine glass. In the third, two wine glasses will come together in a toast.
The first automaton will use a motor to push a cork around the rim of the glass. The cork will be attached to either a crank slider mechanism or a gear. Additional gearing will be required to convert the rotation of the motor into rotation at a slower speed. The motor will be attached to a Cricket controlled switch.
In the second machine, a motor will propel a crank mechanism that will cause a fork to tap against the side of a glass. Again, additional gearing will be needed to slow the speed of the mechanism. I hope to be able to use a Cricket to control the speed of the motor, but if I am unable to do this, a Cricket will again control a switch attached to the motor.
The last automaton will use a motor to turn two sets of gears. This mechanism will cause two wine glasses to rotate slowly around two shafts. At one point in the rotation, the two glasses will come together in a toast. Just before this point, a switch attached to a Cricket will be tripped.
I intend to use the Crickets to coordinate the three mechanisms. In particular, I imagine the first and second automatons shutting off just before the third automaton toasts.
If I am able to complete the proposed project ahead of schedule, I would like to build duplicates of the first and second machines, changing various parameters on each (wine glass shape, water level, motor speed, Cricket program, etc.) to produce different sounds. I would also like to spend some time experimenting with different Cricket coordination schemes.
