Making this was really fun, I found this awesome software Pepakura Designer (http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/) that lets you take a 3D model and flatten it so you can print it, cut it and assemble it. It’s fairly easy to use, only problem is that is PC only!!!
The idea of the train was that it would work with the MTA live data, but right now they’re still in beta and the documentation is incomplete so I wasn’t able to actually use it.
Got everything working separately but when I assembled the mechanism with everything else, it didn’t work 😦 it was fun making it!
The most surprising thing about this ladybug was getting the Theo Jansen Mechanism to work. However I discovered a lot of technical things along the way. The first was working with paper materials. This first prototype I couldn’t get it laser cut, so I had to choose a material thick enough to work as a structure but also manageable enough to cut with an exacto knife and scissors. I chose butter board which turned out to work very well except for the small size I was working with, so when I got the axis in place and started testing, some of the pieces started to break and I had to reinforce them. Another problem that I found with the material was that I needed to enclose the components inside it, so that added weight that I didn’t really considered before. I had to reinforce a lot of parts.
Athlete – example 14
The major difficulty for this particular project was the enclosing the Arduino Micro in the model. The one I chose had a fair amount of space, even to fit an Arduino Uno, but I still had problems trying to figure out how to fit the wires inside, and ended up just using jumper wires that were too long and I just tucked everything inside. For future projects I’m going to think before building how I can actually embed the circuit in the model instead of just tying to make it fit. The tweaks I had to do to make the paper model work with the servo were minor, but still required to do some thinking on how the model worked.
The easiest part was the actual construction of the paper model. I’ve become more comfortable with it, and using the right tools I can build it with better precision.
After realizing how simple was the paper automata that I picked, I started to think about the possibilities of a adding more elements, like gears and shafts in order to make other things move. I liked the idea that by making firm joints and leaving others loose you can actually achieve a great deal of movement, and by changing the direction of the servo, and even with the jumpiness from the ultrasonic range sensor reads, helped make the athlete have a more alive behavior.
Controlling a servo with an ultrasonic range sensor. Second paper toy.
Controlling a servo via serial communication. First paper toy.
About Me
I’m an Architect from Venezuela, I did my undergrad there and I graduated almost three years ago. During those years I did a lot of freelancing in architecture and graphic design. I also did a certificate program in 3D Animation using Maya. What I realized though, is that I wanted more out of all this, and recently I became interested in interactive design. I took physical computing last semester and I really liked it. I want to do more!
Favorite Toy
My favorite toy was a talking Baby Sinclair from the “Dinosaurs” TV Series, it had a string and every time it was pulled it said different phrases.
I currently don’t really play with toys. I just keep them. I need to play more!
Nik 🙂
For the final project I decided to make an educational toy. Using a finger puppet/magnet of Nikola Tesla. I made an enclosure for the receiver part to simulate lightning, I ended up using 5 LEDs and the Knight Rider array in one direction to get the lightning effect, I also added sound that went up and down from 3 really low pitches at the same speed as the knight rider. For the transmitter part I used an enclosure that simulated Nikola Teslas’s Lab and the Tesla Tower (my initial idea was to use it as the actual antenna, but it turned out that by removing everything from the antenna pin I got better transmission).
Nik Tesla Wireless Toy from Jeannette Subero on Vimeo.
who took the class photo by the way?? can you upload it on the blog!! thanks.. happy holidays 🙂
For my ideation I had very basic ideas, but I liked the toy one, so I went looking for one, and ended up finding something better! I finger puppet/fridge magnet of Nikola Tesla. So since he worked with wireless electricity, and we are working with wireless communication, I thought he’d be perfect. Also Kristen and Tiam did a project for Major Studio, and I really liked the flash effect from the lightning. My new idea is to make a didactic toy, in this case to explain kids about Tesla.
Lightning + Tesla + Wireless toy Prototype from Jeannette Subero on Vimeo.
I would like to add a visual interface in processing with the information on Tesla that also reacts with the pulse sensor. I’m working on that! I want to add sound as well (thunders), but I’m still not sure whether to do it on processing or through the arduino.
My Simon Game’s enclosure broke during the hurricane, and since most stores were closed, I had to improvise 🙂
People liked the vibration buzzer when they lost!
It was a really fun project. I really liked soldering the board for the vibration buzzer.
Simon Says Work in Progress… Not working code!
https://github.com/jeannettesubero/PComp-Codes/tree/master/SimonSaysNotWorking
If you still need inspiration!
http://www.mariopiano.com/mario-sheet-music-overworld-main-theme.html
So my ideas all revolve on beating Simon… literally.
Step-on Simon
Based on the dance mats like Dance Dance Revolution. I propose the Step-On Simon game. I found a guy that made a mat for about 8 dollars, just using wood, ducktape and switches (http://www.tomtilley.net/projects/ddr-pad/). So I think it’s pretty doable!
Punch Simon
A boxing training/memory game. It would need an upper body mannequin (made of foam, cause the Body Opponent Bag is too expensive!!!), and a sturdy base. Also it would have to use some sort of soft circuit sensors. It would illuminate where you have to punch Simon.
Whack Simon
Based on the whac-a-mole arcade game, you would smack with a toy hammer the sequence that the Simon game provides. The enclosure I was thinking of using a wood box, drill holes in it, and put small bouncy balls (or other type of balls) with switches.
Code in Github: https://github.com/jeannettesubero/PComp-Codes/tree/master/SimonGameSounds . Got some sweet melodies with the help of my brother (who’s an awesome guitarist).
About Me
I’m an Architect from Venezuela, I did my undergrad there and I graduated two years ago. During those two years I did a lot of freelancing in architecture and graphic design. I also did a certificate program in 3D Animation using Maya. What I realized though, is that I wanted more out of all this, and recently I became interested in interactive design, during bootcamp I did an Arduino Dorkshop, and we did a very simple light circuit, that was a blinking LED, and I really enjoyed it. I want to do more. I hope that this class becomes the starting point of a new phase for me.
Favorite Toy
My favorite toy was a talking Baby Sinclair from the “Dinosaurs” TV Series, it had a string and every time it was pulled it said different phrases.
(Click image to watch the video)
Maker Faire
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was a lot of fun.
Some of the 3 projects I like were:
1) Severed Hand Bop-It
by Sarah Schoemann and Jason Schapiro
It was a toy based on the Simon game, I thought it was a really funny way to make the game. What I liked was that it used soft circuits, sounds and LEDs, and it was a little gross, but a fun kind of gross.
2) SpinBots! Arbot workshop for kids
by Christopher Myers
Kids in this stand would make their own little robot, with small motors and switches, and they used markers for legs in order to draw and create art with them. I liked it cause it was simple, but made the kids participate into actually building their own toy/tool. There were a couple other similar marker robots (vibrated instead).
3)USB Typewriter
by Jack Zylkin
This was an old typewriter connected to a computer like a keyboard. It was fun to use, to type down hard in order for the letters to appear on the screen. USB Typewriter video
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Making Toys 
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