Project development

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Complete your final project, tracking your progress:

What tasks have been completed?
· So far I have defined the main idea of the project and contacted some people that has helped me having a clearer scope of it.
· I have designed the electronics of the project, and asked for all the components that I need.
· Designed and made a wood structure for the whole system, cut it with CNC machine and built it by press fit.
· Designed and made by laser cutting a system of pulleys that will hold and move the objects with strings attached to them.
· Designed a case to hold the electronics inside (board + power supply)
· Trials with the motors and the pulleys, to see if they will have enough power and torque to lift its weigth.

And what tasks remain?
· I need to solder all the components of the main board (FabUSB2AX) and then program it.
· Print the 3D case whenever there is a free machine in the lab · Mount everything together (motors, pulleys,etc) inside the wooden structure
· Program a python script / processing to make the objects move
· Try to make it interact with a distance sensor or a Microsoft Kinect
· Iterate then for the second version of the project

What has worked?
· I have been doing trials with motors since the firsts weeks of FabAcademy, playing with small and big pulleys. I have tried different servos and then started working with Dynamixel AX-12A. Chose this specific model has been a huge success as they are very reliable and there's quite a lot of information about them, although it's specially from robotics.
· I want to lift aprox 150-170gr. and the trials have been satisfactory so far.

What hasn't?
· I have been able to set up and control the Microsoft Kinect both with Windows and Mac, but haven't suceed on integrating it as input to an output (through Python or Processing)

What questions need to be resolved?
· How to interact with the objects?
· How will the people understand how to approach to the system and know how to interact with them?
· Is it simple to make it modular? If so, how will I power all the lines?
· Do I need separate boards for each line or just the power supply?
· How could I integrate this whole system and control it remotely?

What will happen when?
I will do the remain work in two separate fases. First one will be before the end of FabAcademy and the second one once I have passed it.
I want to priorize and do all the electronics, being able to control and make all the system work with a Python script.
I will then do a second iteration and integrate interaction through movement sensors.

What have you learned?
· Manage time to do the most with the time available. Thinking about the time first and what can be done in that time (instead of thinking on what I would like to be done, and then start working without thinking about time at all) it has been a nice change of mind for me. I am now applying this into my day to day work, being more conscious about the time I spent doing things and the time I really need for all task.
· Electronics in general. It has been really exciting to see the process of learning new things in just six months, from drawing circuits in Eagle, to program them and make them do what you want.
· Think with a holistic approach for a project. As an industrial designer I used to think in the product's form and function, but not on how to program it or how to interact with it (in two ways). That has been a huge change. Now I can think about the whole process of designing and object, from the conception to the execution and programming.