Week 1: Initial Thoughts
Main Initial Thoughts
Humanoid head
Head: React to sound and be able to turn to direction of sound
Eyes: natural blinking tempo, move to direction of sound + eyelids react to sound (Dynamics)
Ears: microphone funneled for sensitivity
Motors: 5-6
Bonus Designs
Mouth: reply to sound
Owl Body: Imitate Owl-like characterization
Aesthetics: make it more animal like
Head Movement: Using the webcam feature to center face
Initial thoughts for code:
Continuous running of: Natural blinking, swaying of head
Input: microphone sound; video input;
Note: microphone: multiple microphones to determine direction of sound
R;L
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Center
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R
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Turn Right
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L
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Turn Left
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T;D
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Center
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T
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Tilt up
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D
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Tilt down
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F;B
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Center
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F
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Front
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B
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Behind
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IN: Microphone Sound
at least 6 variables of microphones: left, right, top, down, front, back; (depending on # of microphones)
Using that variable: determine direction of sound and turn towards sound
First compare left right, top down, front back
Ex: Front, right, top, front > back; right > left; top > down
Week 2: ( 04/08/13 - 04/14/13) :
Our group had our assignments checked over to determine the productivity of the team. Specific assignments that were checked over was the Design Proposal (located in the Downloads Section) and the Blog itself. Besides getting our assignments checked over, we determined and decided on the materials used for the animatronics head and the an extensive thought process of how the code will operate in a step by step basis.
Week 3: ( 04/15/13 - 04/21/13) :
Coding theory was discussed. We created a flowchart of how the animatronic head will be operating.
Week 3 - Flow Chart
Week 4: (4/22/13 - 4/28/13):
Possibly desgins for physical aspect of project was discussed. Use of a motion platform with 3 degrees of freedom was considered. A video here shows the operation of a motion platform we wanted to use.
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| Motion Platform with 3 axis of motion |
Week 5: (4/29/13 - 5/05/13)
Materials were discussed for the physical design of the project. The physical design was also finalized. We established the required materials and decided on a how the stepper motors were to be incorporated into the project. The idea we established was to have 3 axes of movement using a combination of steppers motors with the motion platform-style desgin.
Week 6: ( 5/06/13 - 5/12/13)
This week focused on devlopment regarding our project. Final designs and thoughts were established. The rough draft of the final engineering report was crerated. The report lacked completeness in some areas since our project was not far enough along to be able to talk about results or future works. Base thoughts and tenativve information was put in these parts in order to establish a base for when the actual results are due. A copy the draft of it can be found here.
Week 7: (5/13/13 – 5/19/13)
The project was revamped and moved from sound input and head
motion to a GUI based interfaced and different facial expressions. The new designs
were finalized and materials were bought. The coding was tried in a few
programs until LabView was decided at the most efficient way to code the
project. This was thanks to Taif
Choudhury who was very helpful with regards of different options for the code
as well assistance when troubleshooting the code.
The base material, 1/8" plywood, was purchased from Blick Art Store and the facial shape was drawn in AutoCAD using a series of ellipses, arcs, and lines. The AutoCAD drawing was then imported to the laser cutter in the machine shop and cut into the plywood, as seen to the left. Current work is being done on the eyebrow moving mechanism (further holes and openings will be drilled/cut into the face as needed).
motion to a GUI based interfaced and different facial expressions. The new designs
were finalized and materials were bought. The coding was tried in a few
programs until LabView was decided at the most efficient way to code the
project. This was thanks to Taif
Choudhury who was very helpful with regards of different options for the code
as well assistance when troubleshooting the code.
Week 8: (5/20/13 – 5/27/13)
The code for the project was created in LabView. The code is
essentially complete and only needs simple basic additions to integrate with
the physical designs. A picture of the sample block diagram is present and a
rough rendition of the GUI was created. The code registers the buttons on the
GUI to set each stepper motor to rotate to a certain position which will move
different aspects of the head.
essentially complete and only needs simple basic additions to integrate with
the physical designs. A picture of the sample block diagram is present and a
rough rendition of the GUI was created. The code registers the buttons on the
GUI to set each stepper motor to rotate to a certain position which will move
different aspects of the head.
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| Block Diagram of the code in LabView |
