Main Project Inspiration and Ideas

Between the upcycle project and the work I had for other class, I hadn’t put too much thought into what I would like to do for my final project. As a result, I don’t have that many ideas for something that I could do so for this post I figured I would just list out all the ideas that I do have.

One option that I do have is sticking with the aesthetic that I used for my upcycle project and creating something dynamic within that. There are plenty of dynamic elements within the spaceflight aesthetic that could be used for a project. For example, keeping with the model idea I used for my upcycle project, the ISS has a robotic that could be fun to try and replicate. I could use motors and electronic controls to have the arm move around and maybe even try to have it grab things. While this could be something I end up doing, I’m not sure if it’s the direction I want to take with my main project.

space station's robotic arm next to space-x dragon

For my main project I really wanted to focus on creating something that would be useful for me long term. This is where I have been hitting a wall of sorts, because I’m not sure if there’s anything that I need that I could make and has a dynamic element. One idea that I had was a color changing chess board. I could make the chess board myself out of acrylic and then use LED light underneath to highlight each of the individual squares in alternating colors. The colors could be controlled by remote so instead of white and black squares it could, for just an example, be purple and light blue squares. I could also create the chess pieces myself out of wood and use a laser cutter to burn one set of the pieces to be black. These are really the only ideas that I have at the moment, but I will continue to brainstorm other ideas as well.

This Unique Acrylic Chess Set Lights Up with Colors

Image 1: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/b4h-3rd/hh-robotic-arms-reach

Image 2: https://theawesomer.com/photon-led-chess-board/600713/

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4 Comments. Leave new

  • Ryan Cochran
    March 7, 2021 12:28 pm

    The robotic arm would be super cool to make and you could even have a camera on it that senses motion and tracks it to be able to grab an item. I also think the chess board would be super cool to make and would be an awesome way to add some cool aesthetics to a room.

    Reply
    • Callum Schulz
      March 9, 2021 11:41 pm

      Thanks Ryan,
      Having that level of control over the robotic arm might be a bit challenging since I have very little experience with electronics and robotics, but I’ll definitely keep it in mind. I think the chess board would be cool as well. I picked it up as a hobby at the start of COVID, but I don’t actually own my own board.

      Reply
  • I really respect the scope of this project. It sounds like you are trying to tackle a very challenging project and I’m really curious to see where it goes from here. I think I also want this to be something that I can continue using after the class. I think the best way to do that is to just solve a problem you have often. It is sometimes hard to notice little problems you have every day, but once you notice that and can think of a way to solve it, coming up with a solution could definitely be a way to make sure you use this for the long term.

    Reply
    • Callum Schulz
      March 9, 2021 11:44 pm

      Thanks Ben,
      I kind of wanted to do something a little bit more complex for the final project since some of my other classes ate up a lot of my time for the upcycle project. Now that my more intense classes are slowing down, I would like to put a greater amount of effort into this project. I tried thinking of some every day problems that I had, but really came up blank. I’ll definitely keep that in mind though and try to think of some things.

      Reply

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