Deryl is a robotic pterodactyl I made for my engineering problem solving class. The class was centered around combining different facets of engineering--mechanical design, electrical and software development-- in order to create one, final project involving all of them.
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The semester I took this class, the design challenge was to create an animatronic that displayed at least 6 degrees of freedom. I initially thought about doing an animal, boiling down my choices to a flying creature, and eventually a pterodactyl.
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I decided that the animatronic would be built out of cardboard to allow it to perform each of the desired functions. It was the cheapest and easiest material to design and cut out in comparison to cutting wood. Also, it provides enough support for the pterodactyl to stand by itself.
The first work session I had I drew out the rough shape of the body parts on to a poster board and cut them out piece by piece. For curved surfaces I cut slits into one side of the piece to allow it to bend in one direction, this can be seen on the upper chest area and the top of its head.
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Once I had the body completed, I needed to start testing and integrating the motors and LED's that allow for the actuation of the animatronic.
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Starting out small, I found ways to fix the motors for the wings, tail, and jaw to the body of the animatronic. I wrote the software for them in MATLAB and started testing out the movements. I also spent time testing and implementing all the LED's which were part of the system. The animatronic's tail and eyes featured LED's.
After some of the key functionalities were tested and proven successful, I spent some time over the weekend painting and wiring together every part of the animatronic.
I simplified a lot of the aspects of this project for ease of presentation, but it took a lot of time and effort to get this animatronic running smoothly. I'd say all together, this project took around 2 weeks from conception to completion, and a lot of time was spent in the engineering makerspace and in office hours with my professor. Below are images of the completed project, along with images showing the wiring diagram and the user interface I designed using the MATLAB app design features.
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