Assignment 9 // Project roadmap

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A. Heilmeier Questions as Needed

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Question:

Do you want it to be a hand pumped mechanism or an automated experience?

Do you want it to function by itself?

What scale would you like?

Whats the air control connection?

 

 

B. Research History & State-of-the-Art

  • inflatable man
  • cable push toys
  • catnip spray
  • inflatable
  • Durable Cotton twill used in many toys w soy or plant safe inks

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C. Generate a list of Experts to invite to talk with you by category

 

 

 

 

D. Generate a list of relevant soft or flexible materials.

Ordered Items from Seattle Fabrics:
3 Sample Packs
2 Fabric

 

** pet safety **

  • healthy inks
  • no small plastic parts that may break off and be consumed

 

E. Define specs

How do You know when it works?

 

  • if it inflates & deflates correctly
  • if cat is entertained / wants to play
  • durability / cost

 

F. Start Materials Explorations/1st Iterations

 

**temperature, time, pressure, cold clamp

***using alum to cool down

 

Final Project Idea: Sound Shawl – E-textile knitting exploration

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For my final project I would like to explore the world of E-textile Knitting. The final concept is a shawl that is knitted to match a specific spot in nature like a spot in prospect park. And the capacitive touch spots / analogue sensors could trigger audio recordings of that location. The colors (and ideally the pattern – but being newer to knitting would most likely be tied through color palette) 

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Inspired by Einrúm, an Icelandic company that creates yarns and patterns inspired by the natural environment. During our Environment class I was inspired by the idea of increasing the lifespan of an object through customization or having the item individualized. I was reminded of Einrúm’s yarn’s particular ability  to pull on a personal connection of  place through pattern.

Already certain clothing items can function as portals to specific moments or life experiences. For this project would like to connect it back to nature – although  sometimes our connection to technology feels like its pulling us away from nature, technology is just at tool and can also have the ability to enhance our relationship with it.

[ below is a knitting pattern inspired by Basalt rock columns. and there are examples of swatches inspired by specific Icelandic geology]

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For final concept shape was thinking of something along the Elementary wrap pattern by Purl Soho but also know that I’ll most likely present polished swatches / a larger test area ❤

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[Another variation would be more on the healing side where maybe like Jingwen’s heat jacket, there’s a heating element on the inside. For people navigating back pain sometimes it would be nice to have a shawl that feels wearables verses a heating pad thats attached to an outlet or a quick stick on pad or one of the bulkier neck wraps. ]

 

Soft Robotics: Hw 7c – Design your own mold

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For this week we were to design our own mold. Being newer to 3D printing I knew i wanted to dive straight in at least with a cardboard prototype to solidify my understanding of some of the mold making techniques introduced in class last week.

I just got trained on the 3d printers at Tandon and am excited for trying 3d printing in the future ❤ I decided to try the 3 part mold w/core, hoping to create a Starfish shaped grabber / inflatable actuator.  I included the slides from class I was inspired to try below from Kari’s Week 4 lecture Introduction to Silicone Mold Design Concepts and Approaches

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I ended up using more Silicone than I had hoped due to the cardboard walls leaning outwards and a leak in the center, maybe around 150 -180 vs 100, would definitely design a smaller mold for the next step.

Lessons Learned:

  • Create thicker walls for part A + B, I had originally made them thinner to help maybe decrease the needed amount of silicone but overcompensated, and when removing from  mold some of the walls had some sizable tears to where I decided to hold off on part C until doing another model
  • Start with a simple shape –  like a square to really understand the characteristics of silicone
  • Use a sturdier material – my cardboard was too thin and so the sides began to warp / buckle. I was able to wrap 2 hair twist ties around the the frame while it cured but helping alleviate the warping.
  • Be careful with overhangs –
    • I think some of my walls due to the warping created difficult overhangs for the test cast removal
  • Design small –
    • while prototyping try designing / scaling down to the smallest size thats still helpful in order to conserve materials / & cure+ iterate faster
  • Next test- 
    • Either a laser cutter one with small rectangles, gluing together with acrylic glue
      • could also do in sectional stacking to help avoid possible leaky edges
    • Test 3d rundown w/ Arnab
    • Or have Laguardia print @ cost

 

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Thinking about a 3 part mold cast.  Slides are from our Week 4 class with Kari love. See slide here Screen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.11 AMScreen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.18 AMScreen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.24 AMScreen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.31 AMScreen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.37 AMScreen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.46 AMScreen Shot 2019-04-28 at 11.54.50 AM

 

 

Soft Robotics: Hw#7c + #8

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Week 4 Assignment

  • #7 Silicone Casting Blog: Design Your Own Mold
    • Design an original/variation mold concept
    • Can be digitally designed or physically designed
      • 3D modeled/printed, Laser Cut, Cardboard
      • Simple or as complex as you like
      • Try to use less than 100g of silicone to conserve materials for classmates
    • Make a test cast
    • Photograph your finished mold and cast and write up a “lessons-learned” statement on your blog
    • Email your link and bring your physical prototype to class
  • #8 Make Quad Chart of Final Project 1st Idea Proposal
  • Optional Reading: Soft Robotics Commercialization: Jamming Grippers from Research to Product

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Hope to think about a HASEL actuator variation this week ❤ Still deciding what sounds fun for the final

AITA: Visiting the Library of Congress

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This past week we went as a class with Jer to visit the Library of Congress! We got to meet the people skyping with our class this semester and saw many things from different collections/departments. Everyone was very generous with their time and at the end we all got our LOC readers card for future research ❤

I was able to stop by the Young Readers Center for a a little bit before 4pm. Their program coordinator Sasha has been really helpful and told me that they hope to highlight Strong Women in their book collection coming up soon for the in memory of the Women’s suffrage movement.

Departments we visited:

  • Main Reading Room / Card Catalogs
  • Manuscripts
  • Rare Books
  • American Folk Life Collection

And during the last hour stopped by the Young reader’s center and the Maps collection. It was really cool seeing the maps that Rashida and Effy requested of India and Guangzhou. I was able to look at maps of Ireland from the 1500s and Karina started looking at different representations of wind in the map marginalia. More soon!