Creepy mechanical animals project

[Josh Merrow]

Hi everyone

Here's a writeup of a fun middle school project we've just finished. There's a teacher's guide with links to laser cutting files if anyone's interested.

https://www.lindylabs.org/projects/mechanical-animals/

Best

Josh

[T Sappington]

This is a really cool project!

[Lucie deLaBruere]

Josh

This is brilliant!  It has so many different dimentions

I'm wondering if you could share a little bit more about how the Arduino impacts the movement

Lucie

[John Umekubo]

Excellent! Thank you for sharing Josh! My 7th grade students are going through the Robot Petting Zoo project right now with Hummingbirds. This is inspirational for them to see.

- john

John Umekubo about.me/jumekubo

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[Josh Merrow]

Hi Lucie

Thanks Lucie! The Arduino just turns the power on and off via a relay- one second on, three seconds off as per the code in the teacher's guide - which gives a group of animals an odd, jerky quality. For our display I used three arduinos and relays, all timed differently.

Best

Josh

[Simon Corkeron]

A great project. Thanks for sharing!

[jackson perrin]

This rocks! It led me to your projects page for the first time and what a treasure trove of inspiration...bravo to you and your kids.

jack perrin,

www.gorgemakerspace.com

[Adam Romary]

This is awesome.  I just saw this exhibit at the Reading, PA museum.  LINK.  Might make for an interesting extension.  Looks like the company that makes it is in Woodland Hills California.

Adam
.  

On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 10:04:36 PM UTC-5, Josh Merrow wrote:

[Michael Darfler]

**CLAP CLAP**

On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 10:04:36 PM UTC-5, Josh Merrow wrote:

[Maureen Reilly]

Awesome!

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[Dorothy Lee]

I'm in love with this project! Thanks for sharing.

On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 7:04:36 PM UTC-8, Josh Merrow wrote:

[Diego Fonstad]

I love this project as well.

I'm curious about the thinking and background on the Meccano/erector set "girders" because I really like how they scaffold the process of exploring linkages and motion.

The video shows different sizes: were the students the ones who cut them down? (the attached file only shows one size).

How did you settle on the spacing of the holes and the length and width girders?

Were students given any constraints as to how many they could use?

Had you made some demonstration linkages in advance for the students to see?

I also see there are prototyping "boards" but I'm curious how students explored putting the boards upright.  Did you provide "legs" or were they required to build them themselves?

Diego

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[Josh Merrow]

Thanks for all the positive feedback, everyone!

Diego:

Students cut the girders as needed by clamping them in a bench vise and cutting with a hacksaw. I eyeballed the spacing of the holes and the girder sizes. I didn't need to provide constraints, nobody wanted to (or perhaps thought to) make a giant stuffed animal. Using the long posts (of the post and pin fasteners) without the pins, it's possible to put together all kinds of linkages without making them permanent. I demonstrated putting one together and turning it on at each step. As in: now we have a turning wheel. By adding a girder attached off-center to the wheel, we have back and forth motion. By adding another girder to the far end of the first, you have a flexing elbow. What will happen if I pin the second girder down to the board? etc. In the brainstorming phase I had students explain / show with their bodies the movement they wanted their animal to make. In a few cases we had to simplify the movements. As usual, some students needed tons of help, some needed none, and most were in between. They built the legs and bases themselves, but I provided 1x1" steel right-angle brackets with holes that matched the spacing on the boards, which makes it easy to zip tie board and bracket together. Then they screwed the other flange of the bracket to their base (a piece of scrap wood that they had cut).

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at 11:42:06 AM UTC-5, Diego Fonstad wrote:

I love this project as well.

I'm curious about the thinking and background on the Meccano/erector set "girders" because I really like how they scaffold the process of exploring linkages and motion.

The video shows different sizes: were the students the ones who cut them down? (the attached file only shows one size).

How did you settle on the spacing of the holes and the length and width girders?

Were students given any constraints as to how many they could use?

Had you made some demonstration linkages in advance for the students to see?

I also see there are prototyping "boards" but I'm curious how students explored putting the boards upright.  Did you provide "legs" or were they required to build them themselves?

Diego

On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 8:24 AM, 'Dorothy Lee' via K-12 Fab Labs and Makerspaces <k-12-f...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I'm in love with this project! Thanks for sharing.

On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 7:04:36 PM UTC-8, Josh Merrow wrote:

Hi everyone

Here's a writeup of a fun middle school project we've just finished. There's a teacher's guide with links to laser cutting files if anyone's interested.

https://www.lindylabs.org/projects/mechanical-animals/

Best

Josh

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[Leilani Roser]

The dancing bag of Cheez-its made my day.

On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 10:04:36 PM UTC-5, Josh Merrow wrote: