The Show Off was created with the aim of showing human behaviors and feelings in robots. People shows off in their day-to-day lives by displaying their wealth, families and jobs. Much as birds show off their beautiful feathers to draw mates. Using touch sensors that trigger when stroked, the bird shows off its fan-like feathers trying to keep the viewer’s attention. After many iterations of feathers and the body of the bird; I changed the base from a triangle to square and a paper fan for the feathers to bristol paper for the final version. The Show Off captivates viewers with its craftmanship and beauty.

Litter Bot is a robot designed to self-destruct, simulating anger, the instant trash is dropped near it. The hope is to discourage people from littering. A big problem in the world is littering. People litter every day, in fact in the United States alone, there are 254 million tons of litter that is thrown on the ground each year. Since this is such a big problem, I decided to make a robot that tries to fix this issue in our modern world. My robot (insert name here) faces this issue with a hilarious and clever idea of self-destructing when a piece of trash is dropped next to it. This will hopefully prevent further littering on the streets. [I tried to compress this information, folding it into the first two sentences of the Brief. Each sentence should count and advance the narrative.]

 The attention-getting self-destruction posed several challenges of design This robot is a pyramid-like shape made out of cardboard held together by a notched top with notches. The way that this machine works is the mechanism for self-destruction is as follows: an internal servo on the inside pushing pushes a dowel up and down to remove the top, which is connected to take the top off. When the top comes off weights on the outside of the pyramid that pulls down its walls, down making it destroy itself and in the process causing a deafening and loud, attention-grabbing sound. The process of (insert name here.) was a very long one. Litter Bot evolved through several prototypes. The first approach to catching people’s attention entailed a balloon ripping through the paper. The balloon was inside the paper breaking out. This grabbed people’s attention and made them think what was going on.  The next model experimented with a dodecahedron shape, which was finally replaced by a pyramid. But when that didn't work the idea was revised and has turned into what it is today.

The Intimidated Prism is a robot designed to appear threatened when a human subject approaches it, shrinking and covering itself much as a possum plays dead when it is scared. A robot that tricks a person into believing it has feelings and acts on them could challenge the user to reconsider what it means to be alive and conscious. It might cause the user to think about what makes robots so different from them. 

The first few iterations of the project involved simple methods of moving paper panels up and down, but these mechanisms soon proved to be unreliable and didn't get the emotion across clearly. The last prototype looked much like the final except it was made mainly of cardboard, and there were a few problems with the design. After editing the design and laser-cutting the wooden frame, the final model came together. Made of panels of colored paper supported by wooden poles, the “unthreatened” Prism appears tall, interesting, and lively. When the human subject gets within 25 cm of the robot, an ultrasonic sensor sends this information to an Arduino, which activates internal servos. The paper walls collapse, creating the illusion that the robot is shrinking down in order to hide. Rolls of black fabric are released over the sides covering the robot's base. The sudden collapse and movement are designed to make the user feel responsible for startling the robot, which now appears lifeless, less exciting, and intimidated.