Skills Dev IV: Motors and Movement

The beginning of the Waving Bear

We have all heard about the waving cat, that welcomes guest when they come in Chinese restaurants, well what about a waving bear that says bye. With the integration of a possible timer if needed. The prototype I created has the option for you to control it with your phone. So if you are sitting in your living room and a guest is talking for too long you can type 1 into the app and it starts waving bye. That way you can avoid the awkward "I want to be alone or can you leave" conversation.

Here we have the cables on the breadboard.

I arrived to this outcome by thinking what could this motor possibly do. I then saw a resemblance to a hand and that is when I had this idea of making it an animal that can wave good bye to people who over stay their welcome.

There were many different iterations as I first used only tape, then I decided to use rubber bands for the motor itself. I wanted to make sure the motorized hand wasn't "fixed" and unable to move.

The waving machine waving bye

Brian (2023)

How it works:

Here we have a video of the motor being utilized. We use the computer as we had to use the phone to take a video of the motor moving. We are using the particle console and we chose the device that we wanted to use. We then scroll to the functions table and implement the function we want to do, in the video I make it counter and then I follow up by making the motor wobble. One can do the same thing on their device by typing a 1 in the function.

I can see this product improve in a few different areas. One can proceed to actually make a mold. That way one can create any kind of animal they feel is their spirit animal. I also believe that adding sound would be a good idea, incase the guest is concentrated on what they have to say and don't notice the waving bear.

I learned a lot building this device. For example you need to be able to use a material that wont get in the way of the waving hand. Also, learned that glue might be a better option than electrical tape.

int servoPin = A3;
int servoPosition = 0;

Servo servo;

bool shouldWobble = false; 
bool shouldCountdown = false; 

void setup() {

    servo.attach( servoPin );
    
    servo.write( 0 );
    delay( 500 );
    servo.write( 180 );
    delay( 500 );
    servo.write( 90 );
    delay( 500 );

    Particle.function( "wobble", handleWobble);
    Particle.function( "counter", handleCounterStart);
}


int handleWobble( String cmd ){
    shouldWobble = true;
    return 1;
}

int handleCounterStart( String cmd ){
    shouldCountdown = true;
    return 1;
}
void loop() {
    
    
    if( shouldWobble ){
        for( int i = 0; i < 10 ; i++){

          servo.write( 70 );
          delay( 200 );
            servo.write( 110 );
            delay( 200 );
    }
        shouldWobble = false; 
    }
    
     if( shouldCountdown ){
        for( int i = 180; i >= 0 ; i = i - 5 ){
         servo.write( i );
         delay( 250 );
    }
    shouldCountdown = false; 
     }
    // for( int i = 180; i >= 0 ; i = i - 5 ){
    //     servo.write( i );
    //     delay( 250 );
    // }

    delay( 1000 );
}

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DIoT 2023 Skills Dev IV: Working with Outputs - Motors and Movement

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48-675 Designing for the Internet of Things

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A hands-on introductory course exploring the Internet of Things and connected product experiences.

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To create a motor that can be controlled with ones phone. Allowing the user to turn on the motor without them being near.