The dragon's journey from being ​Electro-Mechanical to completely Mechanical
Expanding on my fascination for Automata Machines, I wanted to make a classic automata with cams and followers.
I got a chance to try that for one of my courses where the professor provided the students with prompts and a set of materials to make a working prototype.

PROMPT GIVEN: Make something that interacts and responds.
MATERIALS PROVIDED: Laser cutter, MDF and acrylic sheets, LEDs, Lever Switches, Batteries, Motors and other basic electronics. 

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IDEATING

I started by experimenting by making a motor-driven cam and follower mechanism. The up and down motion of the follower was fascinating and I looked at it as a potential story-telling tool.

The box shown here (image tot the right) is all laser cut. The axle and the cams are also laser cut on an acrylic sheet. The followers are made out of thick paper.
The motor's spindle was finally glued onto the axle as the power source to rotate the axle.
COMING UP WITH THE CONCEPT

The follower's motion resembled a dragon's body following a wave - something similar to a huge dancing Chinese dragon.
I imagined sections of the dragon's body on four different followers and with the consecutive up-down motion of the cams, the dragon would like it was flowing.

In line with the prompt's context, I was picturing a dragon cut on a clear piece of acrylic and with LEDs embedded on its features (like scales and eyes). 

MAIN IDEA: When the follower reaches the maximum height, the LED's glow up, lighting up the scales or other features of the "clear" dragon.
THE 'BOTTLENECKS'

The most complicated part in designing the above version of the dragon was managing the circuitry into the automata machine.
I poured some extra attention and effort into:
  • Make a SLEEK yet FUNCTIONAL unit to hold all the wires in the system. 
  • Designing the PLACEMENT FOR THE LEVER SWITCHES..
  • Ensuring the RIGHT AMOUNT OF FORCE EXERTED BY THE CAMS ONTO THE LEVER SWITCH IN ORDER TO TURN THE CIRCUIT ON.
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HOLES TO ALLOW THE WIRES TO PASS AND COLLECT AT THE BACK
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INNER PART OF THE AUTOMATA MACHINE WITH A SNAP DESIGN FOR THE LEVER SWITCHES
Honestly, I was completely in love with the concept but the execution did not look like a "finished" product to me!
Here's what bothered me.

TROUBLED TIMES
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  • The shabbiness that came with the wires.
  • The circuit being way too entangled!
  • Sloppy follower movement.
  • The inconsistent lighting up of the dragon.

This process once again brought my attention to my sub-conscious inclination towards making a more "finished" product and I do not want to be doing that in the future. Also, the final requirement for the course was to turn in a "refined" version of the project.



​In an attempt to decode what "refined" meant to me, I decided to go back to the purely mechanical roots of building a simple hand-cranked automata.

However, I stuck with the dragon being my central character and continued to make a "finished" mechanical model, this time without any circuitry.

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​The dragon came a long way, I guess!

This project still stays amongst one of my favorites and I hope to make a neater version of the Electro-Mechanical dragon in the future.

While this mechanical version is more in my comfort zone, I hope to explore more ways of incorporating simple circuitry into automaton building. Fingers crossed!