huff and puff

SKILLS : lasercutting, maya, mechanical prototyping, rapid prototyping

For our midterm project, Adi Marom and I built a machine whose purpose was to create an “inflatable” structure. Our original proposal was the transformation of the shape and size of these structures through air using a piston-and-crank mechanism, powered by either a servo or DC motor. In the end, we chose to focus more on the mechanism itself and using the idea of paper-folded “puffer fish” as a whimsical counterpoint to the solid sleek nature of the linkages and pistons used to make them expand and contract.

The geared DC-motor powers the mechanism that controls the expansion and contraction of the structures. A crank and double-piston mechanism was used to convert between the rotary motion of the motors to the reciprocating motion of the “pumps”.