Week 2 Progress

    For the second week of our project, our group completed the project proposals for the two main components: the body and the head. Our project timelines were optimized to make the most logical sense to follow. In the prior week, only ideas were thrown out without substantial backgrounds and methods to go about them. This time, the team wanted to create a more solid picture of our design, going in depth about the materials, the actual internal structure, and feasible measures.

Main Objectives:

• Plan out the overall function of the animatronics
• Determine materials used

Materials

    Our list of materials so far are as follows: PVC pipes, servo motors, steel or wood, speakers, LED lights, wires, Arduino micro-controller, piston, carbon fiber, and potentially more items.

• PVC Pipes [o]: Creates the base framework of the animatronic.
• Servo Motors [o]: Enables the animatronic to move and rotate as needed.
• Steel or Wood (potentially): Reinforces the framework.
• Speakers: Produces a noise to satisfy the sound requirement.
• LED Lights: Lights up the eyes and fulfills the light requirements.
• Wires: Completes the electric work.
• Arduino MicroController: Allows Arduino to program how the motors operate.
• Piston [o]: Enables the animatronic to lunge forward quickly.
• Light Gates: Sensors to detects presences when people moves through the light beams.

    Because we are still finalizing a list of materials, we do not have a set date for when they arrive. The materials that are provided to us by the Innovation Studio (e.g. Arduino microcontroller, wires, speakers, LED lights, etc.) do not need to be delivered. The items and materials that do need to be ordered will have a mark ([o]) next to their name in the list above.

Detailed Description of Animatronic Device Design

    We decided to scrap the idea of making the nun animatronic tilt forward. The tilt is too slow and does not exude eeriness. Instead, the animatronic will lunge forward via a piston. The piston allows quicker movements than a servo motor and handle a larger weight than a single motor. Because we are switching to the piston, we do not need a plate to break the fall of the animatronic, which is only necessary if the weight is too heavy for the servo motor to stop the lunge movement.

    The arms will not make clawing motions anymore since applying continuous force on relatively weak motors will lead to a quick breakdown of the functionality of the arms. Therefore, they will simply be moved to a different stationary position then reset to its original setting.

    We were thinking about using a mannequin to shape the body, but we scrapped the idea due to the sheer amount of work that is needed to hollow the mannequin. We would rather create a skeletal frame from scratch and drape the costume over it. When we make the skeletal frame, the animatronic will, at the base, be a T-shape structure with a V-shape design underneath to support the shoulder areas, depicted in Figure 1. There will be small motors on the shoulders, at the top ends of the T, to move the arms. How this design supports the weight of the arms had yet to be discussed. We just know that, by following this design, we have to make the arms light. The height of the animatronic will be between roughly 5'1" and 5'9". The PVC pipe for the spine has to be at least four feet while the "collar bones" pipes will be between one and a half feet and 2 feet. The sensors that trigger the animatronic could potentially be light gates, as those are provided by the Innovation Studio.

Figure 1: Rough Sketch of the Initial Animatronic
Device's Framework