Week 5 - Journal

This week marks the start of a new milestone in this exciting learning journey, as we were introduced to the world of electronics—a field full of creativity and endless possibilities. For our first assignment in this stage, we were asked to design a small project such as a miniature game device, a desk lamp, or something decorative that implements two electronic components powered on at the same time using a switch.

Starting with the software, since we’ve just begun the electronics milestone, we naturally needed a platform to simulate circuits before moving to real-life testing. That’s where Tinkercad came in. It’s a great tool to test connections and code safely, avoiding the risk of burning out components 😅. I created an account, signed in, opened a new circuit design, dragged in the necessary components, and started experimenting.

As for the materials, the assignment required us to use cardboard as a low-fidelity building material. This kept things simple, inexpensive, and easy to prototype. Because of that, no heavy machinery was needed—just basic tools like a cutter knife and scissors were enough to bring the design to life. ✂️📦

Starting with the electrical design, after deciding to build the kinetic whale, I settled on using a DC geared motor to drive the movement of the mechanism and a lamp to create a soft shade of light while the whale is in motion.

I then moved to Tinkercad, where I opened a new circuit sketch and began adding the components:

• DC geared motor

• Switch

• Lamp

• Breadboard

• Power supply

• Connecting wires (jumpers/crocodile clips)

After placing them, I connected everything in parallel, making sure that each component received its full power to operate correctly. Once the wiring was done, I hit the simulation button, flipped the switch, and watched the motor and lamp come to life ⚡💡🐋. At that moment, I knew I was ready to move on to the next step: fabricating the cardboard structure and mounting the components—or at least, that’s what I thought.

After confirming that everything worked fine in Tinkercad, I moved on to the cardboard fabrication stage with great excitement. At this point, I also decided to make an orca whale instead of a regular blue whale. To understand its body shape, I explored reference pictures online and studied different methods for making 3D cardboard models. I chose the technique of cutting side profiles, gluing them together, and then smoothing the surface with filler material before painting.

I began by cutting the whale’s side profiles from cardboard and gluing them together (without the tail at first). For the filler, I prepared a homemade cardboard putty:

1-Cut cardboard into small pieces.

2-Soak in water until soft and mushy.

3-Blend until smooth.

4-Squeeze out excess water.

5-Mix with glue until it became a homogeneous, sticky dough.

Using this putty, I smoothed out the whale’s body, attached the tail, and refined the shape until I was satisfied. After letting it dry, I moved to painting. With a brush, I tried to replicate the black-and-white pattern of an orca, and the result turned out quite close to what I envisioned.

Once dry, I cut the whale into sections using a saw, then reconnected the pieces with small wire clips to create a chain-like flexible structure.

Next, I worked on the movement mechanism. Inspired by a camshaft, I designed it with three randomly spaced bends on a wire to convert the motor’s rotation into linear movement. Testing showed it worked well, so I proceeded to build a simple box to house the electronics, the mechanism, and the whale.

This is where the difficulties began. After mounting the mechanism and adjusting it, it worked—although a bit cranky. But once I tried attaching it to the motor, it repeatedly loosened up and wouldn’t stay connected. After several attempts, I realized the whale was too heavy for the motor, which was relatively weak. This made the intended movement impossible, and the project hit a major roadblock.

Instead of abandoning all my work, I redesigned the final concept. I built a wire fisherman figure, with the lamp as his head, holding a small fishing rod that appeared to be catching the whale. Meanwhile, the motor created background movement with attached strings, turning the entire setup into a cozy, decorative piece that combined light, motion, and creativity.

This week I did get some really useful feedback from my peers, Malak and Mustafa. They suggested two possible solutions to the problem I faced with the whale’s weight. The first idea was to hollow out the whale parts to make them lighter, which could have reduced the load on the motor. The second idea was to shift the whale’s role from being a moving part to more of a visual element in the design. I decided to go with the second suggestion since hollowing the cardboard seemed risky—it might have caused the whale to lose its shape and structure. Using it as a decorative piece instead felt like a safer and more effective choice, and that’s what I ended up doing. 

One of the main technical challenges I faced wasn’t actually in the mechanical part—though that had its own struggles—but rather in the electronics. The issue was maintaining solid and stable connections between the components. Without using a breadboard or soldering, and relying only on jumper wires and crocodile clips, the system kept failing several times. Each time I tried to run it, I would end up troubleshooting, only to discover that the wires had slipped out again. This not only caused repeated failures but also led to a huge tangled mess of wires inside the box.

Looking back, I realized that a more secure method of connecting the components—like using a proper breadboard, or even taping down the wires—could have saved me a lot of frustration. So, if someone else were to try this assignment, I’d definitely recommend finding a way to keep the connections tight and organized from the beginning.

The skills I gained this week will definitely carry over into my final project. Learning how to design and simulate circuits in Tinkercad before building them in real life gave me a safer way to test ideas without risking components. I also learned the importance of using stable and organized connections—since loose wires and messy setups caused a lot of problems in this assignment, I’ll make sure to plan for cleaner wiring in my final build, maybe using a breadboard or soldering for reliability.

On the design side, experimenting with combining motion (the motor) and light (the lamp) gave me a better understanding of how electronics can add life and interaction to a project. These experiences will help me think more creatively and practically when integrating electronic components into my final project, while also avoiding the pitfalls I faced this week.

The coolest thing I learned this week was how simple electronic components can completely change the feel of a project—just adding a motor and a lamp was enough to turn a static cardboard model into something alive and engaging ⚡💡. It made me realize how powerful electronics are when combined with design and creativity.

Something I’ll never forget from this week is the moment I turned on the switch in Tinkercad and watched both the motor and the lamp work together for the first time. Even though it was just a simulation, it felt like a huge milestone in my learning journey—it showed me how ideas can move from imagination into reality. That small success is something I’ll always carry with me. ✨

If something was to be called truly cool this week, it would definitely be the Sumo Robot competition we had during the hands-on activity 🤖. We applied the H-bridge concept, designed the chassis of the robot, and even worked on the controllers—all of that alongside my teammate Rania. Even though we ended up coming in last place, it was still such a fun and valuable learning experience. Competing, testing, and watching how every team’s robot behaved in the arena was an unforgettable part of the week and gave me a better understanding of electronics in action. ⚡