Week 1: Computer Aided Design // Final Project Ideas
My assignment for this week was to come up with a concept for my final project and then to model it in as many 2D & 3D ways as I could
Full disclosure - after completing this assignment and then coming to class I realized that I really wanted to redirect my project to be more meaningful to my research topic. So the work and ideas on this page are only for week 1 but I got a lot out of coming up with the idea and working in CAD & some 2D design tools.
The concept of this final project idea was to create a visual and possiblly auditory representation of the way the eye functions. I imagined having a suite of sensors centered in the pupil and then having different was of representing the sensors measurements on the surface of the eye.
Hand drawn sketch:
A sketch I made with GIMP:
The essential features are a PCB with a suite of sensors, a lens that is color or perhaps shape changing, a backing "retina" that's made out of an array of LEDs, and wires that artistically connect everything.
I used this assignemnt as a chance to follow a lot of CAD tutorials. I learned techniques in making patterns and taking advantage of mirrors & symmetry.
Links to my Solidwork Files: Eye Front & Eye Back
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another Idea: Make an underwater sensing platform along with a pump to create flow over the sensors as well as a wirelessly attached data visulizer that artistically represents the data and can be used to engage young students at outreach events.Design Requirements
1. A suite of sensors for oxygen, methane, CO2, pressure, salinity & and a PCB board that runs thems.
a. A housing that protects the sensors' board.
b. Wifi, bluetooth, and radio communcation links from the instrument that interact with a GUI that live plots the data to MATLAB.
c. A dettachable pump that can flow water through the inlet.
d. A wireless charging battery pack
2. An array of lights that react to and visualize the data that the sensors are reading via a network connection.
