Process

Jibreel Bhatti and 2 OthersRuixuan Xie
Ryan Bendremer
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snitch.gif
snitchfinal.gif

We succeeded greatly in creating a real version of the Harry Potter Snitch, commonly used in the game of Quidditch. This is because we all wanted to make fiction real. It is because we have seen things in fiction come to life and we feel as if we should make our dreams come true also. So we started brainstorming ideas about how to build the Snitch and drew a rough sketch of what we originally thought it would look like.

As you can see our early sketch of the Snitch doesn't look like what you see before you. That is because we had to make some alterations in order to allow the Snitch to fly. We want the Snitch to be multifunctional such as sense a human's presence. But then we looked thoroughly around and figured out that Nuvu did not have heat sensors or cameras. Actually a part of the adversities we met during our building is that sometimes the equipment and materials are limited and doesn’t fit our expectation. So we need to design our Snitch base on what we have here in NuVu. Then we were introduced to Rhino where you can make 2D and 3D designs that you can then make real using the laser cutter or the 3D printer.

We made this primary prototype of what we thought the frame would look like by using an exacto knife on cardboard to cut out wings that would be used for decoration if it doesn’t lay negative influence on flying, also, a cardboard model of what we thought our frame would look like.

We worked on a design and made more prototypes until we created a 3D printed model that you see above you. But we weren't content to stop there so we designed another frame in Rhino that was thinner but still retained the required strength. So we printed it overnight and got it back in the morning. This was the final.

You can see a diagram above. So the propellers located inside the Snitch's 3D-printed body are turned by the two Space One Motors. The whole thing is controlled by the arduino micro board. The pendulum makes sure the Snitch automatically rights itself if it's tilting randomly. The battery you see above is not the one we'll be using but it certainly has the ability to power the Snitch.

At first the design of Snitch is just the replication of the golden one in Harry’s world, but later, we finds this little flying sphere has a variety of functions waiting for us to explore. Due to its sphere-designed frame and user-friendly control, it can be the Snitch in a group game which every one run after it. It can also be a supervision camera flying in the city sky and help  secure the safety of our neighborhood. By adding different sensors we can adjust it anytime anywhere as long as it meets our expectations. It does not have the drawbacks such as vertical taking fly that plane have and its shape will be welcomed by most of people.

Here are some images of our final.

Finally, here's a gif of one of the tests.

So here's the demo.