Materials

- One 24”x18” sheet of “Quarter-inch” acrylic (actual thickness is ~0.235”)

Note: A translucent or transparent material is nice in order to see the gears behind the wheel.  However, wood of the same thickness can be substituted as a cheaper alternative.

- One GoGo Board

- Two motors

- One switch (optional)

- Other miscellaneous sensors (optional)

Equipment

- Laser cutter that can cut through your chosen…

Overview

GoGo Gears is an interactive, educational toolkit for students to learn about gears, mechanics, electronics, and programming.  This toolkit includes interchangeable, laser-cut gears and versatile GoGo Board programming for students to learn how to control the movements of a mechatronic car.  The entire structure of the car and the gears can be laser-cut out of one sheet of acrylic so that it can be easily made anywhere a laser cutter is available.  The GoGo Board is the…

Possible Options

When prompted with this project, there were so many interesting ideas for educational toolkits.  The top three options of personal interest were:

1)      A game to learn about binary numbers and be able to compete with friends.  This would also have the possibility of expanding to hexadecimal or any integer-based counting system.

2)      A toolkit to learn about light-tracing, as done in physics.  This would involve predicting and then physically…

You would think that a snap fit shouldn't be too hard--just make sure to measure your pieces, right?

However, it turns out that there are actually several difficulties with snap fits--minor dimensional nuances that are totally fine for most applications, but have a significant impact when trying to make a perfect snap fit!  But don't worry--there are ways to make it work.

A Few…

Acrylic sheets are not cheap.  One quarter-inch sheet costs $40!!!  But there are several simple ways to use it wisely.

1) Check sizes using cardboard.  Cardboard is a lot less expensive.  So if you're not sure of the exact size of a particular piece, cutting it out of cardboard first is an easy way to double check.  Also, since cardboard is so much faster to cut, it could end up saving you time, too, since you won't have to wait for the slow acrylic cut each…

THE RESULT

LEAFless, a game of matching leaf shapes and colors!

Conceptualized by Morgan, age 9.  Designed & made by Jess Ji.

THE INSPIRATION

This game was inspired by Morgan's…

Meet 9-year-old Morgan:

Her favorite game is Qwirkle--a game where you match colors and shapes to score points.

This version…

THE RESULT 

A proximity-sensing silicone-cast toothbrush.

This starts beeping and lights up an LED if the bristles get too close to something.

THE PROCESS 

First, I vacuum formed several…

THE RESULT

My "Flying Giraffe" Art-Inspired Name Tag is Assignment 1 of Educ211X--Beyond Bits & Atoms at Stanford.

THE INSPIRATION

My favorite famous artist is M.C. Escher.  His mind…