Final Project

For my final project, I will be fabricating a Shadow Theater Sensory Box, which will allow students with special needs to control lights of varying colors to produce a shadow display of different scenery. Intermediate Unit 1 serves 25 school districts in three counties and operates four campus schools. These campus schools serve students with varying degrees of needs including alternative education, therapeutic emotional support, and severe special needs.

Sensory displays have been proven to be therapeutic for students who may suffer from severe mental health issues. My inspiration behind this project is the students we serve at Intermediate Unit 1. Through this project I hope to provide these students with a resource that they can control and alter to suit their current mood or needs. As our Fab Lab resides in one of our campus schools for students with special needs, I have had the opportunity to see first hand the positive impact custom digital fabrication can have on these student’s attitudes and lives. Providing them with the opportunity to take control and have a choice in determining the scene or color allows the student to feel included and in control of their surrounds when they are normally unaccustomed to change.

SKETCHES

sketch of final project

sketch of final project sketch of shark king

Project Development

Main machines/tools for the final procjest include using casting and molding, 3D printing, laser cutting, and electronics production. The box will be laser cut with interchangable pieces made from 1/8” plywood. The pieces will be interchangable so that students or educators can change the scenes. The slide that will display some of the shadows will be paper to allow for flexibility and will be attached to the box using the 3D printed slots to allow for the slides to be easily changed. The LED circut will be created using PCB board, needed componets, and the Roland MDX 20. The circut will be button triggered and will activate the LED lights. The circut board will be intergrated into the inside of the box to contain wires and the board. The circut board used for the final project was the output LED board seen below in the images and video to create the final product of my project. As originally stated the board was to be located inside however it was adjusted to remain outside of the box to allow for easier access to the output button.

final project