Wack-a-mole Project

Home Page

1/13/23

Aly (me)

This is my website and I am a Sophomore at Apex Friendship. I was responsible for helping with building, calculating the 3D printing times, painting, designing the flowchart and recording/taking pictures.

Sai

Sai is also a sophomore at Apex Friendship High and he helped with building and 3D printing the cams.

Siddharth

SIddharth is also a sophomore at Apex Friendship High and he helped with making the vex conveyor belt.

Cooper

Cooper is also a sophomore at Apex Friendship High and he helped with building the conveyor belt, coding the Robocell and coding the Vex.

Brady

Brady is also a sophomore at Apex Friendship High and he handled making the blueprints, making the 3D models, all the electronic components of the vex and coded the Robocell.

The purpose of Flexible Automation and robotics is to prepare us for working real world machines and robots to make sure the we are better suited for an engineering job.

Our group loves the whac-a-mole idea since we all have vivid memories of us playing with a whac-a-mole machine when we were younger.

Identify the Problem

We have found an untapped market in the automata toy industry. This market comprises toys/gifts that are small enough to fit on someone's desk. This gives us a great chance to increase the amount of automata toys being sold. Our problem is to make an automata design that can fit on someones desk.

Criteria

The automaton must be powered by a motor
The mechanical system and operation can't be altered. (the only exception is replacing the hand crank with a motor)
New components can be added to the automaton as long as it doesn't interfere with the mechanical operation.
Speed of the motor must be controlled electrically
Electrical components must be safely secured and connected to the automaton
Automatan must meet quality and safety qualifications

Constraint

Design must be submitted by 12/13/23
Final prototype must be submitted by 1/12/23
Must include vex components
Must include scorebot robotic arm
Must include 3d printed/doodled parts
Must fit in a 8x12x8 in prism

Generate Concepts

Ocean and Boat

Pros

Meets qualifications
Serves as a nice background

Cons

It is hard to simulate waves up and down motion
The boat wouldn't move across the waves
Requires too many cams

Snake Monkey

Pros

Cool concept
Meets qualifications

Cons

Requires too many cams
Easy to break
The snake wouldn't have anything to balance on
All cams much match up perfectly to work

Wack-A-Mole

Pros

Only 3 cams
Simple
Meets all qualifications
Have done it before

Cons

Moles fall out easily
Complex Cam shapes

Develop a Soultion

Chosen Solution

Our chosen solution was the Wach-A-Mole, which solves our problem as it is the perfect automata toy that can fit on a desk and also serves as the perfect gift.

Our Timeline

We started by brainstorming solutions and came up with 3. They were the Ocean and boat, Snake Monkey and the Whac-A-Mole.
Then we started building our Vex conveyor belt and coding the electronic components of the Vex.
We designed the 3D Model for the cams and whole automaton
We then built the shell for the automaton
We 3D printed the Cams
We started working on coding the Robocell arm so that it could pick up the moles
We added the spray painting components to the vex
We put the cams onto the automaton and added the electrical components needed for it to spin automatically
Finally, we tested and then finished our portfolios

Graphic Document

Parts list

3D Model (Final Concept)

Autamoton Shell

Oval Cam

Heart Cam

4-Sided Cam (Not used in final product)

3-Sided Cam

Moles

Clouds (background)

Sun (background

Expanded view of assembly

Construct and Test Prototype

Flowchart

Automaton test

We were not present for the automaton testing (Mr. Blazey tested it himself). To the left is a video of the automaton in action.

Vex testing

Vex Testing

Robocell Testing

Evaluate solution

Success rate graph (Automaton)

0 indicates that the mole was unsuccessful in going through the vex assembly

1 indicates that the mole successfully went through the vex assembly

2 indicates that the mole successfully went through the vex assembly and got spray painted

(All 3 went through the vex, but none were spray painted)

Success rate graph (Vex)

0 indicates that the mole was unsuccessful in going through the vex assembly

1 indicates that the mole successfully went through the vex assembly

2 indicates that the mole successfully went through the vex assembly and got spray painted

(All 3 went through the vex, but none were spray painted)

Success Rate Graph (Robocell)

0 indicates that the mole was not successfully transported from the vex assembly to the Automaton

1 indicates that the mole successfully transported from the vex assembly to the Automaton using the Robocell arm

(All 3 were transported from the Ves assembly to the automaton)

Conclusion:

I would say that the outcome of our project was the perfect gift/toy that someone could leave on their desk for days. Our Whac-A-Mole automaton is one of the most entertaining automatons in the market. It shows a crafty display of cam usage, 3D printing and toys.

I would say that our Whac-A-Mole automaton was successful. We successfully made an automata toy that could fit on a desk and can greatly increase our numbers of automaton toys sold. This will also bring us a new market demographic as now people who are looking for birthday gifts and Christmas presents. Our project was successful in meeting the criteria, including an automaton powered by a motor, no mechanical alterations to the original design, variable speed, and the toy was also reliable and a quality product. We were successful in breaking none of the constraints, including getting everything submitted before the due date, including vex components, including the scorebot robotic arm, including 3D printed parts and it was small enough to fit in a 8x12x8 inch prism. We were also unsuccessful in a couple things like having secured components, which we struggled to do because the holes were too big to fit the moles a lot of the times. We also never got to spray paint the moles because we couldn't test inside and when we went outside the mole wouldn't get onto the spray painting plate because of the heavy winds. We could've done a couple things better like securing the moles inside the holes and been more productive with our time. Overall I would say that our project was generally successful and go the job done.

Picture Gallery

Page updated

Report abuse