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Description: This project consists of using servo motors to power a microbit and designing and printing a skittle dispenser. The microbit will push the part holding the skittles to the side, causing the skittles to fall and, dispense. We will use the microbit programmer to make it spin and dislodge the skittles. It has a bounding box 7 x 7 x 5 inches.
Brainstorming: We used Mrs. Tran's example as a guide to our prototype. We used 3D printing, acrylic, and the microbit. We used the microbit python website to help with our code.
Below is a photo of a sketch of the prototype.
Procedure: After brainstorming and sketching the prototype, we started designing on TinkerCAD the tray, dispenser, spinner, and holder. Then we printed the designed components, and assembled the Skittle Dispenser. All components fit other than the skittle holder, which was not deep enough to hold the spinner on the servo. We remeasured and reprinted. We programmed the Microbit and tested the Dispenser. Below are photos of the components and the final product.
Below here is the prototype
of our skittle dispenser Below here is the skittle
structure in TinkerCAD. Below is the tray in TinkerCAD. holder and the spinner for it.
Above is our final, printed structure Above here is the servo motor and Above is the tray that will hold the
for the skittle dispenser. the printed part that holds it. skittles.
<-- To the left is the skittle holder connected to the servo which will spin it.
To the right is the code for the servo motor. -->
On the left is the final product, printed, tried, and tested!
<--
Reflection:
S: The strength of our work was that we didn't have to reprint the original structure, we usually measured well, and had determined students in our team.
O: A missed opportunity was that we could have printed the tray in the triangular shape to fit into the structure perfectly.
U: I learned more about design thinking and understood prototyping way more. I have a clearer perspective on how to code, and now know how to print to a Bambu printer.
L: A limitation we encountered was that the skittle holder did not have an accurate shape, and was not deep enough to hold the spinner on the servo. Another limitation was that when the servo spun, so did the servo holder, so the skittle holder wouldn't turn.
WISCR:
I think the two letters which applied most to this project were "I" and "C" because we had to be critical thinkers on how to design the structure, how to produce the code, and how to make the "spinning" part of the structure. We also had to be clear communicators to effectively decide how we would split the project, and to relay the exact measurements to each other.
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