January 2012

    Semester began, group met, exchanged contact info.

February 2012

 2/4/2012
    Brainstormed ideas for the mechanism. Came up with the idea that there should be a battle royal between Prof. Uglesich and Prof. Wolf with them spinning around on top of a music box mounted on a 
    robot cockroach and a student, respectively. Our group included LEDs, moving polarizers, crying students, and a moving background in our idea. Wolf and Uglesich were to move in a constant 
    circular pattern as someone spun the handle on the music box. When they were far away, the LEDs and polarizers would influence them. When they were close to one another they would perform an 
    action simulating an attack. When they are far apart, they regain their energy. When they are close, they exert it upon each other through a violent attack.

2/11/2012

    After speaking with professor Lima we realized that we needed to be a little more creative with our idea. There needed to be something interesting going on, something more dynamic than two 
    characters spinning in circles. To spice things up, we brainstormed again and decided that it would be better if Uglesich and Wolf were spinning in circles and working together to attack an 
    arbitrary Humanities building that was located between them. The Humanities building was to be on fire when the professors were close to it and repaired by a civil engineer while the professors 
    were away from it.
    
 2/18/2012
   Professor Lima pointed out that our idea from last week was too dependent upon inside knowledge of Professor Uglesich, Professor Wolf, and Professor Wolf's relationship to the Humanities division 
   of our school. We realized that if we were to appeal to a wider audience, and if we were to be more dynamic we would have to be more straightforward and simple in our design. So we brainstormed. 
   We decided to have a general Humanities vs. Science war automata. In this automata design there would be a ramp. At the top of a ramp, a scientist clearly labeled as "Scientist" would push a block
   down a ramp (the block would have force and acceleration vectors sticking out of it). At the bottom of the ramp an artist/writer clearly labeled "Humanities enthusiast" would be hit by the block 
   This would instigate the activation of a button (just for show). After this, a giant book would appear from behind the scientist and then fall on him. The system would then be reset.
   
 2/25/2012
    The week before, we had no idea how to put this together. This week we spent time brainstorming ideas in regards to how to set up our mechanisms to achieve the action we desired from our 
    automata. We decided that the most difficult mechanism would be getting the book to rise and fall on top of the scientist. Also, since we wanted everything to reset we concluded that it would be
    best to have the characters supported by springs so that after they were impacted by either the book or the block, that they would go back to their original position.
    

March 2012

 3/2/2012
    We designed our book mechanism to consist of a rack and pinion oscillating via a half gear. At the top of the rack, we hinged a "book" (actually a block representing a book).
    Finished the book mechanism.
    
 3/9/2012
    We designed our ramp mechanism using a gear, a half gear, a sloped slot and a string which was to be connected to the half gear. The idea is that the string connects to on object that can slide 
    in the slot and that whenever the full gear is spun, the object oscillates within the slot.
    Finished the ramp mechanism.
    
 3/16/2012
    We designed our horizontal motion mechanism (to simulate the scientist moving forward and pushing the block). This mechanism consisted of a slot and two gears connected via a horizontal shaft 
    which was connected via 2 more shafts to each of the gears. As the gears spin in unison, an object in the slot moves back and forth in a straight pattern.
    Finished the horizontal motion mechanism.
    
 3/23/2012
   Spring Break
   
 3/30/2012
   Discussed the design of the automata. We decided that it would be best to extend the music box using a frame and have our mechanisms act over a larger volume in order to fit the sizes of the 
   mechanisms. Noticed that it we would have to transfer power over a vertical distance of about 7-8 inches to fit our story (a ramp) and designed a gear system to account for this. Our design 
   consisted of having a shaft with one gear in between the main music box shaft and another shaft that connects to all our mechanisms. We concluded that it would be best to have one shaft operate 
   all the mechanisms from the top of the ramp.
   

April 2012

 4/6/2012
   Presented our second draft of our solidworks design to the class. We received input from Professor Lima recommending that we make the box narrower than it was as well as increase the slope of the
   ramp to decrease the length of the automata and preserve material. We also concluded that in terms project planning it would be best to finalize design of the frame first and then focus the sizes
   of the gears and shafts around that. Set up meeting times for the next week.
   
 4/13/2012
   Finalized solidworks designs and began purchasing gears and plastic online. We decided to use 90 degree bends to connect the boxes. Set up meeting times for next week to assemble the automata.
   
 4/20/2012
   Discussed machining the shafts ourselves using a lathe and cementing the gears as an attachment method.
 
 4/27/2012

May 2012