Today's the first day of work. To begin, Frankie taught us the basics of Rhino (a 2D/3D modeling program) and how to move a file from Rhino to Makerbot's Maker Ware for printing. As a test, we edited the scans of our heads in Rhino, then began printing them on the Maker Bots. Next, Frankie gave us practice sheets to become familiar with drawing in Rhino. We worked on these while our heads printed. Alex began looking at the files for the RIT Arm we hope to begin printing. After that's done, we will be able to assemble the arm and figure out how it works. I am optimistic about this part. Because this is a prototype, there is a lot of room for improvement. Finding out what does and doesn't work shouldn't be too hard (but fixing these problems might be!).
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| My head fresh off the printer! |
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| Something's not quite right here! |
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| Much better! |
After getting the files ready for the printer, Alex and I began brainstorming ideas for a modular hand. I had the idea of using a hose connector to make it easy to screw the attachment to the gauntlet. The user should be able to unscrew and replace the attachment with only one hand.
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| Hose Connector |
Depending on the accuracy of the printer and strength of the plastic, it could be possible to print this socket. Another problem would be the bulk of this set up. If it's small, the connection might be too fragile. On the other hand, a stronger connection could be very bulky.
Being able to disconnect the cables and reconnect them with a new attachment would allow for much faster replacement. The new attachment would not have to be restrung and re-tuned. To make it faster, the string would have to disconnect between the hexes and where the string enters the top of the palm. We are brainstorming ways to do this, however none of our ideas have been both strong and simple enough to do with one hand.
Overall this was another great day and we can't wait to go back tomorrow!
Alex + Sam
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