My engineering graphics course was based largely around a final project that asked us to form a team of four and create a robot that danced in sync with a certain song.
Concept Phase:
We started by brainstorming different ideas for what we wanted the robot to look like and how we should go about designing it. We also partnered with an after-school engineering program for elementary school girls called Girls Inc. Our team met with the girl, Ella, who we were paired up with so she could tell us what she wanted our robot to look like and what special dance move it would be able to do. She asked us to model the robot after the phoenix from the Harry Potter series, Fawkes, and for it to spin around and flap its wings as its dance move.
Here are some of the conceptual drawings that we came up with during this phase of the project.
Design Phase:
As part of the final project, we created a 3D model of our design using SolidWorks
Assembly:
We were given a gearbox kit, wheels, two motors, a breadboard, various electrical components, batteries, and an Arduino Uno microcontroller to use for the robot. We used a laser cutter to cut out pieces of acrylic that made up the body of our robot.
Programming:
After assembling the robot, we programmed it using Arduino to do the dance moves that our Girls Inc. partner asked for and to dance along with a song that the girls group decided on. Here is a video of our robot performing the dance that we programmed.