Full Sculpture

Requirements

Integrate the design of the mini sculpture
At least one sensor
At least one servomotor
At least one human interface to interrupt the automatic operation of the sculpture
Servomotor must be controlled automatically by the sensor
Sculpture must have an automatic cycle (marbles must eventually return to the top of the structure)

Since we had to include our mini sculpture in our full sculpture, and we had already built all the required motors in our mini sculpture, we decided to keep that part the same. Then, for our full sculpture, we simply expanded the overall frame of the structure and added in the cycle element (through an elevator chain) and decided to add more tracks and play around with the design.

Integration & User Interface

For our full sculpture, we integrated our mini sculpture design concepts by expanding our mini sculpture into our full sculpture. We kept almost the elements in our mini sculpture, with the exception of some minor changes, and then made the frame larger for the full sculpture. We also added more tracks and an 2 elevator chains for the final sculpture.

(use of the elevator chain and the main return paths in your full sculpture to facilitate continued autonomous operation)

The elevator chains and the main return paths were included in our full sculpture so that we facilitate the continues autonomous operation of the sculpture. For our mini sculpture, we dropped a ball from a track and we had no contact with the ball until the end when it dropped into the cup, so it wasn't fully autonomous. But, with our new design for the full sculpture, we only need to drop the ball once and we don't ever have to touch the ball again until we stop the code. This is because the elevator chains and the return paths return back to the beginning. This also now makes the sculpture fully autonomous.

Our User Interface is composed of a touch sensor. When the user presses on the touch sensor, it triggers a motor to move a track, which changes the marble's direction onto a new track (See below).

Code Flow Chart

Final Results

Sensor Drop

Secured by two LaserCAMM parts and an array of Lego Technic pieces, the sensor drop features a speed sensor that detects the presence of a marble regardless of color, which triggers the motor to rotate the track that is attached to it. This changes the marble's trajectory and drops it on a separate track.

Track Switch

The track switch contraption is lead by user input, similar to the switch of a train track. The track is lead by default to the main track. When the user presses the button on the side, the track would temporarily switch to the track on the left to allow to marble to fall onto the second track. The track would then move back to its original position.

Basket Drop

Our second user input, the Basket Drop, features another button which deactivates the light sensor, allowing the marble to roll past the Sensor Drop and onto a third track through a basket. This third track, like the other two, will lead into the green funnel and transport the marble onto the first elevator.

Elevator

We implemented two elevators within the full sculpture. The first elevator brings the marble up from our mini sculpture. This elevator leads to the swirly tracks which then lead the marble to the second elevator. This elevator brings the marble up past the mini sculpture starting ramp to allow the ball to drop onto the mini sculpture tracks.

Swirly

The swirly section of the tracks consists of a series of swirls, obstacles, and falls where the marble rolls down from the top of the first elevator to the second elevator.

Final Sculpture Run

IMG_7010.MOV

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