Automata Toys

Cams Research Paper

Examples:

Windmill Automaton

Once the crank turns the vertical cam starts to spin causing the horizontal cam above it to spin as well. Inside of the is another horizontal cam connected to the first one through a rod. Then one last cam is placed vertically above the horizontal cam. This is the cam that spins the windmill.

Caterpillar Automata

Uses multiple eccentric cams to make the caterpillar appear to be moving at different rates.

Horse Automata

Motion starts with turning the crank, which spins the first cam. Through a pulley It transfers the motion up into a cam at the top, which spins 4 different cams each of which controls one of the horse's limbs.

Tipu's Tiger

A highly complex automaton, which shows a tiger mauling a British soldier. Inside of the tiger is an organ, which can be played into making the sounds of the tiger eating the soldier and the soldier screaming. This all works through an extremely multiplex system.

Dolphin Automaton

The middle cam is always facing up, but the 2 outside cams are both rotating causing the circular motion within the automaton.

3 Little Pigs Automaton

Uses 3 eccentric cams that are all off center to get the pigs to move up and down at different rates.

Define the Problem

Our problem is to make an automata toy for a company that would be appealing and entertaining to kids. This toy will have to show our understanding of cams through creating fluid human like movements.

Criteria

Automata must include 4 moving pieces
Must come up with at least 3 different ideas
Must create a pros and cons list for all 3 ideas
Must create a 3D model of the automata

Constraint

Research Paper is due on March 9
First 6 steps are due by March 10
If the first 6 steps are not completed by then you may not pick your partner
Automata may not use a circular cam

My Idea 1: Bird Automata

Pros:

Represent the functions of a bird
Uses linear cams and rotary cams
Fits all criteria for the project

Cons

Linear cam might fail as it's a newer concept
Would not last long as linear cams break easily
Idea of linear cams would be difficult to implement

My Idea 2: Wave Automata

Pros:

Many cams
Simple
Can have any theme added to it
Easy to 3D model
Uses many more cams then required

Cons

Takes a long time to build
Only uses eccentric cams

My Idea 3: Cheetah Automata

Pros:

Big and simple build
Can use linear and rotary cams
Idea can be used on other themes

Cons

Difficult to build cheetah
Opposing cams would interfere with one another
Linear cam might fail as it is a newer concept

My Concept Sketch: Wave Automaton

I decided to design the wave automata as it seemed to be the easiest to 3D model and the most functional of the 3 ideas.

This automaton consists of 8 boxes, 8 followers, 8 cams, a crank and a box. The motion starts at the crank where when the crank is rotated the cams start to spin. All 8 of the cams are eccentric and each one is offset from the next by 45 degrees. As a result the followers followed this motion and caused the boxes to move in a wave like motion.

Wave Automaton Motion Graph

My Partners Concept Sketch: Derg the Dragon

Although we had to start with a rough draft this shows what we planned to make the dragon look like as my partner thought that building it as we progressed would be more effiecent that making an exact blueprint of how it would look.

Derg the Dragon Motion Graph

My 3D Model: Wave Automaton

Automata Toy in Action!

My Partners 3D Model: Derg the Dragon

This ended up being what we decided to build as we believed it was more complex and impressive.

My 3D Model: Derg the Dragon

Final Product

350 parts 20 gears and 5 cams all powered by one motor!

Specs of the Cams

Wings

These cams are used to lift the wings causing the dragon to appear to be flying. This happens because the wing is laying on the cam so when the cam rotates the wings moves up and down.

Flaps

This system of gears and parts causes the pieces to rotate until the parts reach the flap lifting it up and letting it go back down when they go back down.

Head

These gears are connected to the piece which the head lays on so when they rotate the head moves up and down.

The Base

Simply used to hold the dragon up and to store the motor

The Data

Automaton data

Reflection

I believe that our project was mostly successful as I was able to show what I have learned in a year of engineering through building an automaton. It had one of the highest average reviews in the class as shown by our data with an average of 47.2 or a 94.4% rating. Of those statistics we got 8 perfect scores out of 20 surveys meaning that many people thought that our product was perfect. We were especially successful in the functionality and 3D model aspects of our automaton toy. This is because we were one of the only groups who managed to have over 4 functional cams and our 3D models are near identical replicas to our product. I do believe that out of all our ideas the dragon was the best option in terms of complexity and performance, but I do believe we could've picked a more time efficient option that would've still gotten us the same results, such as the bird or wave automaton. One thing we were unsuccessful in was our 6th cam. It was functional but put too much strain on the motor, which could've caused the whole dragon to collapse so we had to remove it from the dragon. We were also unsuccessful in making the 3D model functional since there were too many mates for us to track, which messed up the model multiple times. The model of the wave automaton only contained eccentric cams, meaning that it did not meet the criteria. Another thing we struggled with was making the drawing of the dragon as we still didn't know what it would look like until we built it and because of that we couldn't get our drawing checked off. We couldn't have really done anything better with the dragon idea, as we really made it as complex as possible. The only thing I would change the next time is to make it a simpler idea that did meet the criteria. In conclusion, I believe that our automaton was mostly successful as it showed our ability to build automatons, although we never got our sketch signed off.

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