This was a quick design study of a hand-held ornithopter I want to make someday. The rear wing flapping motion is achieved via push rods connected to the rear wing arms which are actuated via a cam-shaft that is rubber band powered similar to old rubber band prop-planes. The material of the plane is balsa covered with a light fabric skin over the wing panels.
This was a weekend project I did to try and design a better way for myself to work on my computer on nature’s terms, a way to try and integrate natural daily cycles with my work schedule. It is a disassembled 17″ LCD screen with a 3D printed ABS picture frame which holds the LCD and the circuitry that rests over your window. The backlighting reflector panels were removed from the LCD and the matte film layer was removed so that only the translucent glass display was remaining which was partially transparent and usable when backlighting was present. When hung over a window, this made computing possible only during the daytime, forcing more efficient use of time during the day and leaving the night free for time with friends and analog endeavors. Above is a picture of me holding up the transparent display with my hand visible through the LCD display where it’s blocking the backlighting.
Machined aluminum to make a Holga wide-angle lens adapter that mounts to my Brinno GardenCam to get a larger field of view on the time-lapse footage. All work was done with a CNC mill, lathe, and drillpress at the MIT shop. Sample footage can be seen above from the first test with it.
This project was a collaboration between myself, Ryan Habbyshaw, and Todd Vanderlin. We began the project seven days ago when we learned of the competition and developed it from initial ideas to the final foldable posters within the week. Below is a brief description of the process of parsing, sorting, visualizing, and composing the final posters.
The subway data from August 12, 2009 was parsed in openFrameworks and Matlab using custom applications. Statistical analysis was performed in Matlab for subway loading (temporal and geographical including the entire MBTA, individual lines, and individual stations), rate of subway activity, and associated data. openFrameworks was used to generate the central visualizations for the project. Programs were written to interpret data that was processed into several arrangements to emphasize different trends within the data. Linear charts were used to display the activity of stations on a given line to show the geographic relation of activity throughout the course of the day. Circular 24-hour clocks for individual lines and stations were made in order to see the relative activity throughout the day. Pie charts were used to visualize rush hour commutes on each line, showing the contrast of activity during morning and evening rush hours. Histograms were used to show the breakdown of daily activity in a linear fashion. Layouts were done in Illustrator and visualizations were combined in order to create the five individual MBTA line posters and overall mbta poster. Individual print posters are 33in x 23 in.
For more pictures, check out Todd’s flickr set.
Edit: Infosthetics just potsted a post about the project… check it out here
ChopWatch is a web-based application I’ve been working on for about 4 months now. It is an aggregated database of upcoming timber cuts on public land which are proposed by various government departments and agencies. Users can see and connect with areas for the first and possibly last time before they are deforested. ChopWatch seeks to aggregate public timbering information which is hidden or tucked away by government agencies, placed in obscure formats and locations, and generally unintelligible for human consumption, parse the information, and return intelligible and complete information about nation-wide timber practices. Users can input their address and visually see on a map the outline of the closest forests that are planned to be cut down within the next year. Additional information including acreage, GPS coordinates, cutting method (clearcut, partial, etc), etc are also available. ChopWatch is primarily a geo-spatial database enabling users to easily visualize proximity, scale, and frequency of timber management practices in areas of interest. ChopWatch uses various federal and state agency GIS data in conjunction with GeoDjango database, Python, and PHP scripts.
Additionally, the aggregated timber data will be accessible via an API so developers can use the data for their own application-specific purpose. Whether it be a concerned citizens group automatically finding the nearest forest and the corresponding district representative or a radical environmental group generating a map of large forests near city centers where support can be mobilized from, ChopWatch provides the information and basic visualization while allowing users to creatively use the data for their own application. Eventually, increased transparency of public land use and timber management policy could lead to public pressure for improved timber policy and more democratic decisions of public land use.
Solsource 3-In-1 is a lightweight, low cost, portable solar cooker I worked on with 2 other students for the non-profit we formed, OneEarthDesigns, as a solution to rural problems present in nomadic villages of China. It is designed to abate many of the health problems faced by villagers burning biomass in their homes to heat and eat. Pictured above is the first prototype in the lab as well as the second prototype deployed for testing in rural China. Described by Worldchanging in their article of the product:
“Reflective nomadic tent material, stretched across a bamboo frame, concentrates sunlight from a large area inward toward a focal point where the user can place a pot stand for cooking, a thermoelectric device for generating electricity (at a lower cost than a photovoltaic panel), a heat module for heating the home, a solar water disinfector for treating drinking water, or a thermal battery for cooking after dark. These interchangeable parts are each about the size of a laptop computer, and the main platform is easily folded and disassembled for portability.
The SolSource generates enough heat at its focal point to bring a kettle of water to boil in about five to seven minutes – about the same amount of time as conventional gas stoves in homes throughout the developed world. While it is in use, the device generates heat to warm the home, and can create and store about 15 watt hours of electricity, or enough to power the lights for about seven hours. This is adequate for the villagers’ needs, but upgrading to a larger thermoelectric device would easily increase the energy capacity.”
This project got featured on the Discovery Channel when it was in its early stages. You can watch the Discovery clip here (starts at 7:00 or so). We also won the IDEAS competition, Mohammad Yunus Innovation Challenge Award, and the $125K St. Andrews Environmental Prize, as well as semi-finalist in the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition.
Week long project to build a manned-cardboard boat for the annual MIT Head of the Zesiger Race. We designed a 3-person catamaran with as high of an aspect ratio as possible given the race regulations for size of the boat. Design was done in Rhino3D/Solidworks. A 4′x4′ CNC router was used to cut the 2d pieces out of 3ply honeycomb cardboard sheets. No glue/resin was allowed so an interlocking jigsaw pattern was cut into the cardboard to hold the pieces together in addition to masking tape. Waterproofing paint used for cement was used to seal it. We took 1st place and set a new pool record for our time of 1:21 for the 100 meter race.
