• What does it do?
    • It is a helmet that moves your head slightly based on keyboard controls and a gui. It also can match a desired acceleration curve to generate vestibular effects modeling sensations like spinning or falling.
  • Who’s done what beforehand?
    • M-Blocks
    • Cubeli
    • Connector
    • Pheonix server for communicating with a microcontroller to control motors
  • What did you design?
    • mechanical system
      • methods
        • Paper and pen to sketch ideas and things out
        • Fusion 360 to 3D model parts and connectors
      • results
        • stopping mechanism
        • motor arrangement and setup
        • choices of materials
    • electronics & networking system
      • accelerometer feedback system
        • methods
          • Eagle to create circuit board
          • example code to determine program
          • TODO: way to save/collect the information from the acceleromenter
      • web user interface into controlling the helmet and visualizing the acceleration
        • data visualization using Chart.js
        • networking to connect the interface to the helmet
  • What materials and components were used?
  • What parts and systems were made?
    • mechanical parts
    • software systems

My project incorporates

  • 2D and 3D design
    • in the mechanical design
  • additive and subtractive fabrication processes
    • 3D printing of parts
    • milling PCB
  • electronics design and production
    • accelerometer pcb
  • microcontroller interfacing and programming
    • programming the accelerometer pcb
    • programming the mbed board to control the motors using pwm
  • system integration and packaging
    • networking the pieces together
  • What questions were answered?
    • so many unanswered questions (why are the ESCS sad!!!), but this project got me to think critically about mechanical systems and how they may be used to interact with the human body
    • what kind of mechanical system/mechanism could accomplish what we want?
    • what is a good (?) way to visualize accelerometer data?
    • what is a way you can send data from a input device to a web interface?
    • how can you send signals from a web interface to a device via wifi?
    • how do you evaluate different material candidates?a
    • are drone motors too intense?
    • should we use tap guides?
    • what NOT to do when you want to make something (big project).
    • what are the costs of optimism?
  • How was it evaluated?
    • my product was/is not complete but looking back, i think evaluation should have happened along the way.
    • to evaluate my system as it is, it helps to think about the process and contributions.
      • process
        • lots of (mechanical) design + prototyping, some testing, but not enough iterative testing/integration. without these, i didn’t fail fast… i failed last throughout
        • the process of working on this project gave me exposure and experience with any different tools and processes; raised challenges and hurdles and actually gave me opportunities to help others!
      • contributions
        • the helmet may not be ready yet, but now we have some technology that we can use to fine tune, play, an experiment with inducing and following acceleration curves with mbed controllers controlling different output devices
        • the project provides example of how to utilize pheonix channels to stream data reliably, utilizes both made and manufactured microcontrollers, explores the pros and cons of using mbed microcontrollers
        • the project is a step towards a mechanism for physical sensations on the head.
  • What are the implications?
    • lots of room for improvement in project management and execution
    • should explore less intense motors
    • should explore tap guides
    • should explore iterative testing of mechanical systems with mini models and lofi prototypes