Long L
#1 Motor Testing
Based on last week’s structure sketch, we wanted to first test out if the motor can pull up the sides of the cube, which was part of the basic concept.
sketch by Long L
I cut out 6 squares of corrugated cardboard, connected with tape so they can fold, then used fish wires to tie on to each side. When the fish wires are tightened by the motor, they can pull up all sides to compose the cube.
After testing the correct position and height of the pole, I connect the pole to a stepper motor. When the motor turns 1260 degrees, it should be right about to pull up all sides.
the net of cube
testing stepper motor
#2 Problem Finding
Our theory of using motor to in the center to pull up the cube worked successfully, but also revealed problem during testing. When the sides are pulled up and past the up-right position, they had a chance to fall to the inside then to the outside, which will make it not possible to fall back as flat again. Also, with the long side (side D, E), when the side E fell as the top of the cube, it had a hard time to unfold by itself if there was no hand to push it back. We would need a pinion and rack or a linear actuator to work together with motor to push the long side out.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18u5XOrGD-exJT1CspmS8rv8IfQOMqy12/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XyqCnD8ZgCfAhwkhvktcehiPtBs50G4s/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1aPZ_jC8_jzLED7GB9tQyjLagQnYTn_Ba
#3 Next Steps
Next we need to find out the sensor for the cube. We want to test if PIR sensor can work inside the cube through acrylic (or other material). Also deciding mounting hardwares.
surprising collapsing effect when people approaching