10th Grade Foundations of Engineering

Game Controller Project

Brief

Project Title

This is our primary question, and what we will complete this project to find the answer to.

Project Goals

These are the things that we are expected to know, learn, or focus on as we work on completing the project.

Project Constraints

These are the standards that we should adhere to and things that we need to get done for this project

Research

Xbox 360 Controller

This controller motivated the design for the first four designs I did. It also motivated me to have two joysticks.

PS2 Controller

This controller was my first motivation for the shapes of the buttons.

The PS-Vita System

This controller motivated my latest design in its more slender shape and joysticks on different sides, which was difference from the other designs.

Idea Development and Brainstorming

Instead of just four designs, I thought of a design that was sleeker and more convenient for gamers, since using two joysticks with one hand would be difficult.

This is a 3D design of my fifth design, which is a large improvement on ease of use. The buttons being shaped uniquely rather than being icons on the same circular button is a use of the principle of texture. Additionally, the sleek appearance and ease of fit into a hand is a use of the principles of shape and design.

Prototyping

My controller prototype is made from several flat pieces of foam to make up the body, Q-tips for the joysticks, and paper and strings to create the other buttons. In order to build it this way, I had to hot glue the six or seven foam pieces together, then drill holes to make the joystick placements. After that, I had to use glue to create most of the buttons and put them down. One of the biggest challenges was drilling the joystick holes, but I think that I got better progressively, but next time I might consider using a finished piece of foam and sculpting it for the body rather than making a body from many pieces because that impeded many other parts of my process such as drilling and keeping the controller overall together.

Testing

Looking back, electronics were my greatest challenge, and if I could go back I would focus more on understanding that part and building a better system. However, I am proud of my design. When starting my design process I was much more inclined to build something that looked more like modern controllers from Xbox and Playstation, but I received comments detailing the difficulty of reaching to the backsides with the shape. To combat this, I changed the shape and placement of buttons to increase comfortability. To improve, I would want to go more into detail with the central buttons or find different ways to distribute them to make it even easier for gameplay. I am proud of my adaptability to the feedback I received, and if I were to do this again, I would take things a step further by combining my electronics and controller design.

Evaluation

Desktop Organizer

Brief

This is an example of some of the materials that our organizer should try to hold, plus whichever items we personalize to be maintained.

Here are some of the rules and restraints further detailing the project. It gives us a clearer idea of how we could go about completion.

These are some of the goals of the project.

Research

Craftmanship: 2" x 2" Cube Exercise

Creating the involved me measuring out pieces of cardboard with slightly different lengths to account for the thickness of each part. I had a pair of every square some 2" by 2", some 1 and 3/4 " by 2 ", and some 1 3/4" and 1 3/4".

Research for organizers

To me, this design is unique because its height as a space to place something in. I think that this best demonstrates the principle of space.

Research for organizers

This design has a very unique form and shape, as the placements were clearly made for the slender objects it holds.

Research for organizers

The thing about this organizer that makes it unique is the circular shape. It can be used to hold a variety of things, and uses all of the space it takes up. Shape is the principle of design most obviously presented here, but the different colors also make it visually pleasing.

Ideas and Brainstorming

Designing with Elements and Principles of Design

I knew that I wanted to have a designed with an overhead placement for my large headphones to perch on. I also challenged myself to create it modeling letters, and I chose H and A because they seem very structurally sound.

Here is my design with the specific measurements of every part.

Here is my design in a more 3D form.

My model uses different shapes on either side, trapezoid on the right and rectangles on the left. It uses the principle of repetition because these shapes make up most of either side. My model was also made to be balanced. I wanted to make it very simple and base it around strong shapes like triangles. However, I think that the right side resembling an A could have been made in a way that was more structurally sound in this design.

Testing

I actually completed two versions of my final cardboard model. The difference in them lies in the binding materials and cardboard thickness. In my first model, I simply cut the cardboard in the desired measurements and taped it together. However, I found that just the tape itself was not strong enough and even the cardboard buckled at certain points like around the headphones with just one layer.

For the second version, I decided to staple together two pieces of every piece of cardboard to increase the thickness and sturdiness of the organizer. To combat issues with binding since I didn't have hot glue, I used a combination of tape and nails to hold everything in place.

This final model holds everything I tend to have near me: my headphones, Rubik's cube, pen, deodorant, tape , phone (I used a heavy phone case to substitute in the picture, and Chick-fil-A figurine. But I also added to my design use the layered boxing of the shipping container I had to make the secret compartment, which contains one of my Nintendo 3Ds games.

Evaluation

For the most part, I think my predictions on how my design would translate turned out to be true. For the next design, I want to implement hot glue with my other binding techniques. I was proud that I was able to be resourceful with what I had (unique boxing for the secret compartment, nails) to make my design better. I now plan to have this beside me all the time.

A Survey of Our Engineering Kit Materials

Due to our starting our school year virtually, the students within the Foundation of Engineering class were given kits to be used in tandem with the lesson plan. This kit included lights, laser cut parts, and a way to program the lights within the tools. A counting and definition of our materials is shown clearly below.

Using the materials we had in our engineering kits, we were able to create empowerment signs, capable of being seen from the street on a porch. Using our CR2032 battery, our LED lights, the multiple laser-cut wooden parts designed for this event, some tape, and a social-justice focused banner overtop, I was able to make my light. Though it was a challenge, the final product is a reward graciously reaped.

IMG_1779.MOV

A Demonstration of Me Lighting My Arduino Lighting Up

In order to apply the drawing on my diagram, I plugged in my Arduino into my computer and entered the code that I learned from class. I was able to get two lights to glow and one to blink.

A Circuit Diagram of Our Arduino Blink

We drew a circuit diagram to apply to the Arduino Nano in our kit. We made a graph to display the lighting up of one LED in the D2 space. This will be use on the real Arduino, and will show me which ports to put the positive and negative ends of the LED and the wires.

Code for the 6 light Arduino Pattern

int led = 2;

int led1 = 3;

int led2 = 4;

int led3 = 10;

int led4 = 11;

int led5 = 12;

void setup() {

pinMode(led, OUTPUT) ;

pinMode(led1, OUTPUT) ;

pinMode(led2, OUTPUT) ;

pinMode(led3, OUTPUT) ;

pinMode(led4, OUTPUT) ;

pinMode(led5, OUTPUT);

}

void loop() {

digitalWrite(led, HIGH);

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led, LOW) ;

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led1, LOW) ;

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led2, LOW) ;

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led3, LOW) ;

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led4, HIGH);

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led4, LOW) ;

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led5, HIGH);

delay(10);

digitalWrite(led5, LOW) ;

delay(10);

}

A Photo of the 6-light Arduino Pattern. Some lights blink while others remain off at certain times. The amount of time they blink is also controlled by the code. I plugged certain ends into ground and subsequent to line them up with my code and get them to light.

IMG_1861.MOV

A video of my 6-light Arduino Pattern. I applied what I drew in the circuit diagram to my real-life Arduino and used the code that I was given, with a few additional changes to make the light blink in different colors for different amounts of times.

A circuit diagram of my 6-light Arduino Pattern. I made this in www.circuit-diagram.org/ and connected LED's positive and negative sides to places in the Arduino. The negative sides are represented by black and go into ground placements. The positive sides are represented by several colors and go in many different places.

For a specific unit of our Engineering class, we were asked to find an influential person for the advancement and improvement of life for black people. I chose Malcolm X and researched various parts of his life and the contributions he made to the civil rights movement. We were asked to find an important word or group of words that defined someone's life, and for Malcolm, I chose #byanymeansneccessary.

IMG_2323.MOV

I created a glow-in-the-dark figure from my 3D-printed empowerment sign and my circuit. Although it was difficult and I had to work with Mr. Wilson on an alternative method for my circuits, I was able to complete it. I'm very proud of the final result!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/174oEwIahGD5U03pHnz85edJID8zS7Ejf/view

During the first semester of engineering, we learned about the design process, which is a series of steps that summarize how new ideas are turned into products. It starts with defining problems that need solutions, researching the problem, and then making your idea stronger with further brainstorming. With a stronger idea, you test, and likely fail, with various versions and prototypes. After finding something that works, you evaluate the situation and see if what you did was beneficial or not. This summarizes the design process.

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