The problem our group choose to adress was that many children in hospitals have impaired immune systems or other illnesses that require them to stay in bed or their room and not have contact with other children. Our solutio was an interactive castle allows children in separate bedrooms to play together. There are two arduinos connected by wifi in two castles. Each castle represents half of a bigger castle, so an action done on one side of the castle will trigger something to happen on the other side. We decided to create an interactive castle because we wanted to make something that could help kids in hospitals feel more connected to each other. It is nice to have someone to play with even if they aren’t physically there.

We designed two castles out of wood, each have two floors.  We have three major electrical components of the castle, that connect to the other half of the castle. We have a catapult in each side, when the catapult is shot by a spoon being pulled back that hits a button, it triggers an automatic catapult in the other castle to go off. That catapult is controlled by two servos, one tightens a spring and the other holds the spoon in place until the spring is tight enough to make the spoon pop up and shoot a small ball. We also have a crank on one side of the castle, that is connected to a potentiometer that turns a servo in the other castle to open the door. Our last mechanism is a box with a photoresistor that if you put a plastic person in a box, it will sense the darkness and the box will close opening a box in the other castle revealing a similar person. This creates a type of way to pass characters.

We faced multiple challenges including that it was hard to get the 3D printed pieces to work together with the servos. It was hard to test everything with the electronics because nothing had a strong base. We didn’t want to print out the whole two castles because they were big cuts and it would take too much time. The hardest mechanical part to get to work was the automatic catapult because the springs have to be in a specific location and both the servo holder and the spoon have to align.

Our first idea was to make a screen enclosed in a kid friendly object that would show a program. The software allows kids who have to spend a lot of time in the hospital to contact other kids in similar situations through video chat or just text. The kid friendly object would almost be a toy so that it would be a change from the environment of the hospital. The ‘toy’ can be taken out of the hospital on tours of the city, to show the user on the other end around a different country. We decided we would focus on helping kids and the excitement that kids would get from our project instead of all the coding.We decided to move away from making an app we started brainstorming ways to help kids who can’t leave their rooms in hospitals to interact with other kids.

Our first iteration of the castle idea was a small version of the castle that just included the wall. Our first iteratio also had mocked up versions of the mechanisms that would inteact with each other. We choose to mock up the mechanism that would 'transport' a charecter form one side to another and the mechanism that would lower the drawbridge. We were able to sucessfully create prototypes of three mechanisms for our first prototype. We choose to make the catapult, the drawbridge, and the pop up box.

In our second iteration we changed the size of the castle because we realized that we needed the height of the castle to be greater than the length of the sides. We also redesigned the tower and the tower roof because they were also too short. We also made newer versions of the mechanisms. We designed the box and the drawbridge in Rhino so the measurements would be more precise and we designed the cataput in Fusion. 

In our final the we made the castle wider and added features sunch as stairs. we also redesigned both catapults once more. We changed the size of the catapults and added features such as hinges. we also worked on how the box would open and how the servos and electronics would fit into the castle. Working around the electroincs made or final change a lot from out second iteration.

Yesterday we changed our design. We decided that instead if having basically a treadmill on a dolly we would make it more like a jogging carriage or the thing you attach to the back of a bike for kids. We made it a tricycle and got rid of the boxy and excess space. We also got rid of the excess space we had and made it much less boxy, making the majority of the cart the treadmill. 

Today we contructed our treadmill and glued on all the parts. We added rings on the end of the dowels to hold the wheels in place so they didnt fall off the dowell. We also had trouble flatening the pvc pipe so the knobs would not go in at first. Keziah had to bang them into the pvc really hard and then she got yelled at for making to much noise. I guess all of nuvu is not a shop like we were told. smh lmaoooo. 

Today we constructed our new design! We discovered while construction that we put the rollers a bit too low to have the same friction we had with our first treadmill prototype, so with our next model we will have to raise the hole for the dowel. Another problem we came upon is that there was a limited number of dowels that are the size of our holes so I think in the future we will have to make them bigger unless we find more of the dowel we were using. 

Today we worked on making another model, this time instead of just box cutting we used rhino. After making the cart we worked on the model treadmill. We figured out the different components it would take and began the process. We decided that for rollers we would use pvc pipe and ball bearings. We came to the problem of the ball bearings being too small to take up the space needed in the pipes. To solve this we 3D printed knobs that would tightly hold the ball bearing and take up the room needed to spin the pipe. On our first try the hole for the dowel was too small and the whole thing wasn't quite big enough to stay tightly in the pipe. After fixing these flaws and reprinting we made successful rollers. We hope to fully construct the treadmill tomorrow.

Our big idea is basically a doggy treadmill on wheels for slow and/or out of shape dogs that are a hassle to walk because they cant keep up with their owners. The dogs would control the speed of the treadmill and walk at their own pace while the rest of it moved at the owner's pace. We originally planned to have it electric and remote controlled but we realized we wouldn't have time to do that within the two weeks. Today we worked on a small model of the treadmill. We printed all the small knobs I described yesterday and made the rollers usable. Then, we worked on the frame. Unfortunately, both times we tried to cut it it was too small for the rollers, even when we tried to make it bigger. Today we decided that the treadmill would go in the cart and not on top of it because that way it looks better and more sleek. 

Today we finalized our sketches and built our first iteration. We made it out of cardboard, duck tape, pencils and hot glue. We used cardboard to make the treadmill and the wagon and the wheels the treadmills sits on. Then, we used duct tape as a carpet mill and attachted it to the treadmill base. We then looked up diagrams of treadmills and learned how they work and proposed a plan using pvc pipes for the rollers. 

Yesterday we were between several ideas before settling on a walkable dog treadmill. We started with a solid idea so it hasn't changed much since then. Although, we received feedback that  making a remote controlled one of these would be too difficult and time consuming to do within the two weeks we have so we're just making it so one can pull it. We decided to make that decision because of the time and skill constraints. After figuring all this out we started on a rough cardboard prototype of our project with a semi working treadmill on top of it eith a duct tape belt.