Computer Engineering Story By Patrick Milner
Covid-19 also known as the Coronavirus has swept across the globe causing social distancing to be an everyday way of life. It is a terrible respiratory disease. The positive of the situation is that everyone can spend time with their loved ones. This disease has reminded me that nothing should be taken for granted and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
This project was quickly created using some items from around the house. The result is quite something to behold. The machine features a Lego Mindstorms Robot that glides across a duct tape bridge between two boxes. It proceeds to race and knock over the stacked cups. This triggers the Mega Jenga dominos to fall leading back to the big tennis ball that hits the SHU sign and the finale is the led strips turning on. This design has come along way from the original V1 and I’m happy the way it tunred out.
The plan started off as a simple marble track that evolved into a complex process. Pictured below is the rough design for the marble track. This design is a 3d printed Shu logo that that has the marble travel through it. This design presented many challenges and was ultimately scrapped because we went through 3 prototypes
The plan took a big step from the last iteration to include a laser cut track for the marble to travel. We also had a lego marble track prototype that worked well. The laser cut track allowed for the marble to travel a longer distance slower than the lego track.