We talked to Andy today about our project and where we're up to. It went pretty well I think. One thing I'm glad he brought our attention to is how complex our switching for the branching paths can be and how we need to differentiate between which packages go to which point so that we can still automate the routes even if one particular line is taken down. This is what a lot of the problem-solving will be about I think. Many calculations and adjustments.
We also decided that we should narrow down our network to serve a particular purpose. The setting of this project is post-solar flare, as mentioned before. So the primary purpose of this mailing system to send messages and maintain communication between areas. Therefore it's restricted to sending written messages only as opposed to objects and supplies, which I assume is best done in person so that you know what happens to it and where it goes.
This way we can also restrict our capsules to be a uniform shape. In this case, the best shape would be a sphere. It can move easily along tracks, which will be like pinball tracks, and it's the easiest shape to work with.
Our best bet is to trigger our flip flop mechanisms with specific weights. So we've got same shapes, but different weights to trigger out branching of tracks. This can be done by the flip flops I talked about before in my previous posts. For slowing down the flow of packages, we could use some sort of bowl with one hole at the base and zig-zags.
The bowl has curvature, so when a spherical package is shot near the rim it goes around and around the bowl. This slows down the package and only lets a certain number of packages go down at a time (Wandel, 2007). The best for us would be one at a time, so that there's enough time for the switches to reset properly.
(Matthiaswandel, 2007)
The zig-zags I'm talking about can be seen in this video, it's the structure with slopes and obviously look like a zig-zag:
(Matthiaswandel, 2010)
The zig-zags can also slow down the marbles. As the marbles fall through each hole, their momentum in going down the slope is interrupted. Therefore slowing it down a little bit, but down a slope it gains momentum again (Wandel, 2010). Thus, I can control the speed at which the packages roll down a zig-zag by using a slope at a low angle, and controlling at what height the package drops on to the slope. The drop is important, because it gives a brief interruption to the momentum, but also because if the height is too high, the package might roll off and bounce off the track.
Also, we've split the group in half for maximum efficiency and according to our strengths. We have the half that builds our stirling engines, and the other half that makes the switches and tracks. Ben and Edrian are better at making things, so they're grouped to make the stirling engines. I'm better at doing calculations and Tim has a good understanding of physics, so we're in charge of making the tracks and switches. To make sure that each half knows what the other half is doing and whether anything one half does affects the other, I'll be checking on both groups to make sure both sides are up to date on what the other half is doing. This also makes communication easier, and more control over how the group works as a whole. For example, if Ben and Edrian change an aspect of the stirling engine design that the tracks group doesn't know about, they might need to end up redoing all the tracks and calculations to make up for the change. This is why communications between two halves and having a person to oversee what both groups are doing is important. It's so that there's less of a chance of messing up because of insufficient knowledge about what the other half is doing.
____________________________________________________________________
Reference List
Matthiaswandel. (2007, April 25). Marble machine 2 [Video file]. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z2A6qJyURY&feature=player_embedded
Matthiaswandel. (2010, October 10). Marble machine 1 (more detial) [Video file]. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHPC7GVg1Zk&feature=player_embedded
Wandel, M. (2007). Building Marble Machine 2. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/marbles/machine2.html
Wandel, M. (2010). Marble Machine One. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/marbles/machine1.html
No comments:
Post a Comment