These scientific principles help with our driving question because the concepts of physics that applies with our project can help make an understanding of how our project works and can provide an idea for many people to create something by using the principles and laws of physics.
There was a large amount of work involved in the process of making the automata box. First, we created the design brief, which is a document that contains the problem and design statements, criteria and constraints of the project. After filling out the design brief, the next step is to make concept sketches of the ideas of possible box designs, to illustrate them and put them on paper. We created two or three possible concepts for the box and sketched them in our notebooks.
After creating the concept sketches, we used a decision matrix to decide which concept was the best. The decision matrix has five columns (easy to model, meets size constraint, engaging design, easy to assemble, and smooth rotation) and in each column, a design is awarded a score from 1-4 to decide which is the best at what. When all of the values are inputted into the columns, the design with the greatest sum of points is the design chosen. Using the decision matrix, a single design was decided on, and then we began to model the project.
When making our model for our Automata box, we used Fusion 360. This program helps us make computer-aided design (or CAD) models of real-life objects. When making our model, we use shapes in Fusion 360 and manipulate them to into different ones to make them look like the similar components they use for an Automata Box. During the model-making process, we also had to create technical drawings for the box, which required making an animation of the box being separated (or exploding) into pieces, so that all of the pieces of the box would be visible in the drawings. The final step of the project was constructing and building the real automata box. After constructing the prototype of the box, as well as the cams and axle, we painted the box and finished the construction.
After finishing the construction of the automata box, we had to make a mathematical model of the project, so we created a google spreadsheet and started getting the measurements of the maximum and minimum displacement of both our cams: Eccentric and snail cam. By measuring the displacement of the follower from the cams, we can see how much the follower will rise from each rotation of the cams. After creating the tables of the follower measurements, we then created a graph to see the motion of the follower and see how much it rose from each rotation. From the graphs we have made, the eccentric cam caused the follower to rise and then when the cam reaches 180 degrees, it will start to fall back down. The snail cam showed different results with it rising and then immediately falling when the cam reaches more than 180 degrees. After completing the graphs and creating the displacement charts and graphs, we saw how much displacement the follower will have between different diameters of each cam and after creating the graph, we finished the mathematical model.