Final Project...

Project Description

Over the last six month, I have learnt a great deal of skill during this academy. My choice of final project was influenced greately by the idea of trying to make sure that I get to revisit most of the practical skills I gained during the course of the academy and implement them once more cumulatevely into this one project.

I have designed and fabricated a prototype of an automated toy box. This box will make kids enjoy keeping their toys at a central place and not leaving them at random places around the home.

The toy box has a locking mechanism that is actuated by a simple knocking pattern and can easily be reprogrammed by the parent.....just incase the child has misbehaved and the parent wanted to give them a time-out 'to think about the repucations of their misbehaviour' :-)
Anyways, idealy under good behavour, the child's toys will be kept in the toy box and in order to open the box for access, a knocking pattern known by the hild would be invoked and the lock will be opened. This will be fun for the child as it gives them a sense of entitlement, privacy and in the process it becomes a harbit that indirectly trains them o how to be responsible for thier belongings.

Here is a bill of materials for everything needed to get this project working

So, what processes and skills did I explore during this adventure?

Computer-Aided Design

I had to start from this point. I drew the concept down on paper to have a rough idea on how it should look like. After that I took up on solidworks to implement the 3D concept of the toy box. This is how it looked like

After this I took to corel draw to prepare 2D files necessary for the fabrication of the box. I exported the 3D files and broke them apart

Computer Controlled Cutting

Once my 2D files were ready I went on to laser cut the ply wood. I used 3mm plywood that was readily available at the lab.

Vinyl cutting was alot of fun actually. I wanted to cut the batman logo, superman logo and the name 'Eugene'. Both the two logos required two different colors of vinyl paper. I had yellow, black and red vinyl papers. So I designed the 2D files to in a manner that makes it easier to cut and align the designd together. I made one color a background and placed the other color on top of it.

I then set the cutter up and one by one I started cutting the designs.

I then peeled off the unwanted vinyl to remain with the intended cut.

I the used a wide masking tape to transfer the cuts

I later changed the design of the top piece to include a nicely rastered image that would be better looking than he initial one.This is what I ended up with;

3D Printing

So, my plan was to use a servo motor to implement the locking mehanism. However, I wasnt sure how to create the lock. During my research, I found this design done by Mayur Singh from Durban, South Africa, and inspired by The Amazing Spider-Man. I used the idea to design my locking mechanism on SolidWorks

I also designed a casing for my electronic circuit

After this was done it was time for 3D printing. So I set up the machine and got the work done

Electronic Design

I wanted to try out the famous satshakit, so I decided to fabricate one and use it as my control board. I downloaded it from here and prepared it for fabrication. I specifically went for the micro because of its size.

After this I designed a different board that contained all the components I needed for my project and can also power the satshakit micro

I then went on to fabricate them and get set for programming

The circuit uses a Piezo Transducer as the input device to detect the vibrations caused by knocking on a surface. It then sends a signal that activates the superlight micro servo which is my output device. This in turn rotates a gear attached to the 3D printed rack and locks the box.

Programming

Having made a satshakit, I prepared the code on Arduino IDE. I built up my code based on the incredible work done by Steve Hoefer while creating a door lock

Check out the video of the complete project

Download files

Toy_box_3D_files
toy_box_2D_files
Toy_box_circuit
BoM.xlsx
toy_box.ino
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.