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OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
The mini sculpture project was designed to help students learn more about the engineering process, which included analyzing the physics of kinetic motion and creating innovative ideas. Not only that, it fostered the development of soft skills such as organizing and managing team plans. Although the mini sculptures function autonomously, they were built with the intention to be integrated into the final, full sculpture. Requirements for the mini sculptures included that at least one sensor and actuator must be used and automated. User input(s) that adjust the actuator were also required. The deadline was the end of the third week, since the fourth week was designated to combining the mini sculpture(s) into the final sculpture.Â
PHYSICAL SCULPTURE
PHYSICAL SCULPTURE
The image below depicts the physical, final mini sculpture that this team worked to design, build and program. The arrows point out important aspects/notable elements within the structure. There are some unnecessary items such as tape that will not be present in the team's final sculpture.
working mini sculpture.mp4The video above is a demonstration of the mini sculpture in motion. One can see that as the touch sensor is pressed, the trapdoor opens up, thus allowing the marble to roll down the ramp, land on the trampoline and into the basket. One can also notice that both the trampoline and basket are moving elements that adjust their position depending on the speed that the marble is going at in order to properly catch it.
IMG_8631.movHere is a video showcasing the moving basket in action. One can notice that both marbles that fly towards the basket are caught. The basket moves into position relatively quickly so that both marbles can be caught.
IMG_8628.MOVThis video is one that shows the full sculpture in action. The marble rolls from the top of the track, once the trapdoor is opened, through the speed sensor, bounces on the trampoline and then into the basket. Both the trampoline and basket can be seen moving to catch the marbles.
20250725_105302.mp4Above is a close-up shot of one of the trapdoors on the mini sculpture. This trapdoor, specifically, is the one higher up on the track. This trapdoor opens down towards the track in order to lift up and let the marble through, while the other trapdoor opens up, away from the track.
VID_20250723_182426.mp4Shown is a closer up video of the moving trampoline moving into position in order to catch the marbles.
DESIGN CONCEPTS
DESIGN CONCEPTS
The final version of this team’s mini sculpture was determined through a lengthy design process. To help with the process of deciding what design to follow through on, the team worked together to create a Pugh Chart as well as a Risk Analysis Table in order to come to a final decision as to what design they would be choosing to see through for their mini sculpture. Below are the many sketches, charts and tables that went into the decision-making process.
SKETCHES
SKETCHES
Below are the various sketches/designs that this team had proposed before deciding on a single one to actually build and program for the final, mini sculpture presentation. What one can expect to see from these sketches are the team's Idea 1, Idea 2A, Idea 2B and Idea 3. Idea 1 will be the most lengthy as it has four parts to it, determined to be four different levels, each increasing in difficulty. Idea 3 is the sketch of this team's final mini sculpture.
FINAL SKETCH
Presented above is the final sketch of our final mini sculpture design. Below is a more in depth explanation of our idea, although it's very similar to the description provided for the sketch to the left of this one:
What our team decided for our final was similar to our ambitious approach of our first design. However, the final did not involve any angling For the trampoline, or in other words, it consists of two dimensions instead of three. The trampoline would move left or right to bounce the ball while the basket would also move left or right to catch the marble. Trapdoors, powered by motors, were also added so that users can simply press on a touch sensor to release the marbles and activate the contraption.
Sketch of Idea 1: Simple - 1A
This sketch showcases the most basic level of this group's first idea. Their first idea had four different levels, each progressing in difficulty. The sketch above depicts Level 1, the simplest level. It is simply two trampolines and one moving basket, the concept of it being very similar to a motion control exercise that students had done the week before beginning their mini sculptures. The idea is that the basket will move to catch the ball after it bounces off of the trampoline. The human input aspect of this design was that a human would be able to press a button to release the trapdoor and thus letting the marble roll down the track.
Sketch of Idea 1: Simple - 1B
Similar to Sketch 1A, Sketch 1B depicts all the same elements, except the only difference now is that instead of the basket moving to catch the ball, now it is the trampoline moving to allow the ball to bounce off of it and into one of the three stationary baskets. The code should theoretically be the same as Sketch 1A; however it might be a little harder to get extremely accurate and reproducible (getting it to consistently work each time it is run). The human input for Sketch 1B would be the same as Sketch 1A: a human would push a button to decide when to release the trapdoor and to allow the marble to run down the track.
Sketch of Idea 1: Simple - 1C
Shown above is the third level to Idea 1: Simple. While in 1A and 1B, everything was in "one plane," as in the ball could/should only bounce forward into the basket, 1C adds the idea of angling the trampoline in order to allow the marble to bounce into baskets on the left and right side of the trampoline. Materials for this design include three baskets and one trampoline (that will be attached to an NXT motor and programmed to tilt left or right). The human input for 1C differs slightly from 1A and 1B in the sense that instead of choosing when to release the ball, the human will be able to choose which basket they would like the ball to fall into (forward, left, right).
Sketch of Idea 1: Ambitious - 1D
As one can notice, the name of this design has changed to "Idea 1: Ambitious" rather than another "Idea 1: Simple." The reason being this design was the fourth and final level to this team's first idea. The difference between Level 3 and Level 4 is that for Level 4, instead of having three baskets in front of, to the left of and to the right of the trampoline, the basket is connected to an NXT motor and programmed to rotate around the basket, depending on which direction it is angled to. Simply stated, instead of having one stationary element and one moving element, both elements are now moving with neither being stationary. While the trampoline angles to what basket the user wants the ball to drop into, the basket will rotate to a certain position depending on which way the trampoline is angled to. However, this idea does come with a lot of risk as presented in the team's Risk Analysis Table.
Sketch of Idea 2A
Stepping into a new realm of ideas, presented above is the first, and final, sketch of Idea 2A. To explain what the idea is, it is essentially the concept that depending on the data the color sensor sends, the angle of the trampoline is tilted in two specific ways such that marbles of two different colors could be successfully sorted into their respective areas. The touch sensor also acts as a button. When pressed, the motor on top will release a marble down onto the ramp.
Sketch of Idea 2B
This idea, at its core, was an extension of the motion control experiments that students were tasked with not too long before beginning their mini sculptures. However, an additional element of this idea was that once the ball was caught in the basket, it would be sorted into one of two paths available based on its color which can be determined through the use of the RGB sensor.
PUGH CHART
PUGH CHART
Attached below is the Pugh Chart that this team utilized in order to come to a final decision on what design they wanted to see through.
Pugh Chart
A pugh chart is a decision-making tool that many use in order to compare and contrast multiple options that they have against a set of criteria. It is useful for determining which design/option may fit a group's criteria the best. It is also useful for visualizing what a group may be trying to prioritize (the different numbers allotted to each criteria, weight).
In the pugh chart below, the highlighted number, 0.389, is under the team's first design/option: 1 - simple 1A. The number is highlighted because it is the only positive number in the "weighted average" section of the pugh chart, thus representing that it is the best design, according the criteria and weight of each criteria in the chart. However, the team decided to choose Option 7, since it was an extension of Option 1 and Option 2. The team decided that by starting from Option 1, there was space to develop it further into Option 2, Option 7, and further. In the week that the team was provided, they managed up to Option 7, while there was space to develop the sculpture more by angling the trampoline.
FLOW CHARTS
Shown below is the flow chart for the team's final design. The flow chart is meant to help visualize the what the program/code is supposed to get the final mini sculpture to do. It is also a means for students to look back at whenever something goes wrong with the code, so that they can visualize what might have gone wrong, what was supposed to happen, and what needs to be done to achieve that solution and fix the problem.
RISK ANALYSIS TABLE
RISK ANALYSIS TABLE
Attached below is the Risk Analysis Table that this team utilized in order to come to a final decision on what design they wanted to see through.
Risk Analysis Table
A risk analysis table is utilized to assess any risks/problems that may arise with each design, and it's also used for teams to find solutions to said problems. This type of table is very helpful in visualizing and recognizing the potential risks that come with each design. It can help teams with determining which design they want to follow through on, especially if the design they were originally set on had a lot of risks to it, now they can recognize those risks and those solutions and make the decision to continue with that risky design, or look for one with less risks.
This team's table is filled with darker reds and oranges because many, if not all, of their designs were very risky. But they felt that with Idea 3, they had solutions to the issues that they were worried would arise, thus they decided to follow through with Idea 3, rather than the other ideas because without risk there is no reward.
ANALYSIS + RESULTS
ANALYSIS + RESULTS
Much of this team's analysis was done through Working Model 2D (WM2D). Presented below are the many simulations done for several of their ideas/designs. There are also some images of the calculations done in order to make sure that the accuracy of where the trampoline and basket are placed is the best that it can be.
mini_test2.aviWM2D Simulation of Idea 1A
Above is a WM2D simulation of Idea 1A, in which the trampoline is stationary while the basket moves to try and catch the ball after it has bounced off of the trampoline.
Untitled1.aviWM2D Simulation of Idea 1B
Here is a simulation done in WM2D of Idea 1B, where the trampoline is moving and the basket is stationary. While the sketch depicts several baskets, this simulation only presents one.
mini_test.aviWM2D Simulation of Trampolines in 1C and 1D
In order to visualize the concept of tilting the trampoline into a basket on the left and/or right side of the trampoline, the students had to create a simulation in WM2D, which is what is shown above.
wm_mini.aviwm_mini2.aviWM2D Simulation of Final Idea - Idea 3
After simulating many different scenarios, the team eventually simulated their final project idea, as is presented above. The real-life product may not work exactly as the simulation predicts, as it is simply a simulation. The simulation on the top is when the marble is higher up on the ramp, while the simulation on the bottom is when the marble is further down on the ramp, thus allowing the team to visualize how the structure would work if the marble were to be dropped from different heights.
Mathematical Analysis + Calculations
While building and programming are just the surface level skills needed to complete these projects, the most important part of making these mini sculptures successful is a good understanding of the mathematics and physics that goes into everything happening in the sculpture. Without a good understanding of these concepts, there may be numerous errors and struggles along the way. Having a good understanding of the applied mathematics and physics to these mini sculptures can also help with making sure that everything is as accurate as possible.
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