Project 2

Construction Kits

This project assignment is to design and fabricate a construction kit which incorporates small forms of computation to enable communication between pieces in the kit, between kit pieces and the user, and/or between kit pieces and a desktop computer.

Light Maze
Jason Buckingham
Matt Culbreth
Brian Overstreet

Our construction project consists of building a reflective maze for light to travel through. Our light source is a low power laser pointer which is reflected off of cubes through the maze until it eventually hits the end cube. All of the cubes are identical with the exception of the light sensor cube, allowing the cubes can be arranged in almost any conceivable way. The final cube in the sequence is specially designed to have a light sensor embedded in it. When the light sensor detects the laser pointer shining on it, the sensor will signal the cricket to chirp for two seconds. This positive feedback allows the user to know that the course has been completed and the light has reflected successfully throughout the maze.

Boolean Logic Board

Aaryn Stanway

Edwin Eng

Gi Lee

Chris Poyzer

Our construction kit is a Boolean logic board. It is designed to help further students understanding of Boolean logic. Through crickets and LEDs, students can set up physical logic gates and be able to sense the outcome visually. Although we have just created a prototype, we believe that a construction kit of this design could aide with the learning and understanding of even the most complex logic gates.

L-Systems Generator

Nick Romanyshyn

Patrick Clary

Ben Farkas

Traditionally, L-Systems have been used to produce very complex graphical structures on a computing device and displayed on the computer screen. We seek to produce these structures as physical objects for people to learn from and experiment with. Our approach involves several components including: L-systems simulation software, device for converting the L-system to HPGL (readable by Corel Draw), and a laser-printed output of the L-System with constructible pieces, where the L-System allows. Thus, we seek to produce a construction kit version of L-Systems, allowing someone to play around and model the structure using computer software and print it to a laser-cutter (or 3-D printer). This can be used to create three types of objects: an etched drawing, a

stencil, or individual construction pieces. As you will see later, each of these is useful for different types of L-system. Thus, the user has the option of which one of these he/she wishes to produce.