Stage Eight, Week Commencing (16.12.2013)
Week (12), (13)

Description

This session has lasted a little over 2 weeks as I have been busy with Christmas coming up but I have managed to find time to get some work done on this project and dissertation.

Equipment:

3 x Long black metal U brackets (left over from robotic arm kit)
1 x Square Mechano Block
1 x Servo (Mg996r)
1 x L bracket
1 x tilt bracket
1 x Circular Arm Horn
2 x 2mm Brass rods
Milliput
4 x Brass Blocks


This session was spent putting together the neck framework for the Animatronic and attaching the eye mechanism together. I decided to use the U brackets left over from the robotic arm kit and attach them together to make a rectangular shape, I fixed them in place using the pre drilled holes and nuts and bolts. The top of the rectangular frame then fit onto the top tilt bracket of the upper jam mechanism I secured this in place using nuts and bolts and Milliput. I then took a Servo and added a pan and tilt bracket to it with the circular arm horn attached the to servo drive connector, i then attached the L bracket to the middle of the U bracket and attached it to the middle of the rectangular framework. To attach this new framework to the base I had to screw a Tilt bracket on the central platform of the base mechanism, this was simple as it has the pre drilled holed to do so. Attching the new neck framework was difficult though as I had run out of L brackets so I had to improvise using a Square Mechano block which luckily matched the holes in both the tilt bracket attached to the bottom of the base mechanism and the tilt bracket attached to the neck framework. 1.1, (Note the eye mechanism is not attached to the top jaw mechanism and the base unit is not operational, i have just placed these elements together to get a feel for how the build will look when the parts are attached together)

Eyes:

To attach the upper and lower eyes mechanisms together i attached a brass block to the end of each rod. I then took the 2mm brass rods and slotted them into the end hole of the brass block connectors.
to keep these in place i used milliput to bond the two sections of each frame together. In addition i also added milliput to the brass blocks on the front eye mechanisms because the screws where coming loose and I had to constantly tighten them hopefully the milliput will stop the screws from turning.

1.2, 1.3

When we where coming back from visiting my parents on Thursday Caroline took this shot of our house in the rain and it struck a Chord with me regarding the Aesthetics of the build. The picture feels cold and industrial and the light emanating into the night gives and unnatural aura against the night sky reflecting the rain drops. 1.4

Feelings

My feelings of this extended session are positive I think that the build is starting to come together and I am pleased with the way all the old and new elements have come together.

Evaluation

This was a good experience considering that some of the parts did not fit together as I had envisaged and I had to find ways of getting them to work together. This is an area of the build I am enjoying the most problem solving and think of ways around issues. I makes the project feel less like its parts cobbled together and more like they have some purpose.

Analysis

The current situation of the build makes sense although the new elements fit together well there may be future issues regarding the stability of the neck framework and how it is attached to the base. I will not be able to fully explore and analyse this situation until I have finished and connected the eye mechanism to the top of the jaw bracket. However for the purpose of the build in its current state this issues causes no problems concerning the testing of the elements.

Conclusion

In conclusion I feel a fair amount of work has been achieved considering the time of the year and other on going projects. I don't feel that anything else could have been done to improve the work done in this session.

Action Plan

If I had to re-do this session I don't think I would have changed much considering what has been achieved however I do feel that further on down the line I will have to alter or strengthen some parts of the framework to make it more sturdy.

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

Stage (07), Week Commencing (09.12.13)
Week (11)

Description

After a short period off concentrating on my dissertation I have finally managed to pick back up again from where I left off. I have taken a week off from all the other projects and have dedicated this week to this project. I have been working on the Lip mechanisms.

Equipment.

3 x Micro Servos with 7g or torque each
Guitar Wire.
Brass Electrical Block.
Fishing Wire.
2 x wire connectors

To start with I added the bottom lip onto the project, it was more difficult to install compared to the upper lip as I had no framework to put it on as I did with the top lip. So I had to attach the lip to the Servo U bracket of the bottom jaw. I did this by making additional holes into the U bracket at each side then taking the two wire connectors and screwing them into place so the guitar wire could be threaded through them. I did the same with the guitar wire as i did with the upper lip and used 1.mm heat shrink on each end and slotted it through the connectors. However there was to much movement in the lip so I had to restrict the movement of the guitar wire by putting Milliput along the side of the wire, attaching it to the side of the bottom jaw mechanism. I then added a brass electrical block to the bottom of the jaw and used milliput to keep it in place this will act as a run for the fishing wire.

I attached the three motors at the same time two to each side of the upper jaw servo tilt bracket and one under the bottom jaw and secured them in place with milliput.
To ensure that the system would work efficiently I tested it using the code I had used In last years build but adapting it to use Analog ports instead of the digital ones (This has also been adapted from the sweeping servo code from Arduino.cc).

#include <Servo.h>
int c=0;

Servo myservo;  // create servo object to control a servo
 // a maximum of eight servo objects can be created
Servo myservo2;
Servo myservo3;

int targ=20;
int targ1=20;
int pos = 180;    // variable to store the servo position
int lippos=0;
int lipup=10;
int lipupinc=10;
int targinc=5;
int mt=10;
int mb=200;

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(A1,OUTPUT);
pinMode(A2,OUTPUT);
pinMode(A3,OUTPUT);
myservo.attach(A1);
myservo2.attach(A2);
myservo3.attach(A3);
}

void loop()
{
while(Serial.available()>0){
targ=Serial.read(); //this reads data in from processing (mousePos)
}
long r=random(20);
if(r>18){
lippos=random(100);
}
long r2=random(20);
if(r2>18){
lipup=random(120);
}
long r3=random(20);
if(r3>16) lipupinc=lipupinc*-1;
lippos++;
lipup=lipup+lipupinc;
if(lipup>120) lipupinc=-10;
if(lipup<1) lipupinc=10;
long r4=random(20);
if(r4>15) targ=random(200);
targ=targ+targinc;
if(targ>mt) targinc=-5+random(40);
if(targ<mb) targinc=+5+random(40);
if(r4>15) targ1=random(200);
targ1=targ1+targinc;
if(targ1>mt) targinc=-5+random(40);
if(targ1<mb) targinc=+5+random(40);
if(lippos>100) lippos=0;
myservo.write(eyeup);
myservo2.write(eyepos);
myservo3.write(targ);
delay(100);
}

Video 1.1

Feelings

I am happy to be getting back on with the project as taking a few weeks off can effect the future progress of a project in this case it hasn't so I'm happy to be getting back on with it. I feel I'm getting that motivation back that i had at the start of the project and I am just spending every available bit of time I have on either thinking about the mechanism or looking at the script or researching the philosophy of A.I.

Evaluation

This session was productive I felt that a lot has been achieved this week, I am pleased with the outcome and how the lips move via the servos. I did not have to go over or re-do any of the processes of this session and the code I adapted worked fine using the Analog ports on the Arduino shield. One of the things I am concerned about is how a set of prosthetic lips may look on the robot. I had an idea of using the wrist cuffs of the end of a pair of black latex gloves for the lips but I do not think this will look right on the project at this stage. The only thing that I really wanted the lips for was so I could think about maybe matching up some of the vowel sounds in words to the phonetic animation speech map so the robot looked like its lips where nothing naturally with the words coming out of its mouth. At this stage I am going to put this on the back burner and maybe return to it later on if I have time.

Analysis

As the project currently stands I am pleased with it and It makes sense in relation to the brief. I have gone back over the presentation to get a feel once again for the direction of the project and re affirm its purpose. I am also going to watch some films with robots in to give me some inspiration on how a robot sits within an environment. On of the possibilities I have ben considering for further on in the build more towards the date of the final show is building a set for the robot to be placed in rather than a table. However this does have its problems like transporting a set, affording that materials and time issues, I will come back to this idea later on in the project when I may have a little more time to consider it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the project is back under way again I am happy with where it is at and I am looking forward to getting further on with the build. The lips do look really good when they are functioning, I posted a video up on Facebook of it to see what people reactions to it where and it was really positive, and it did freak a few people out which is always a bonus so thats another positive outcome of this session.

Action Plan

If I had to re-do this session again I do not think I could have done anything differently during this weeks session. Next week I want to start thinking about building the neck mechanism out of the aluminium brackets I have left over from the robot claw kit. I think this will be a really easy part of the project at the parts where made to do the movements I want to achieve for the neck motion. I have seen the servo brackets used on camera set-ups to capture motion so I am going to have a look at this also and see if I can add something similar into future projects.



1.1