For her assignment to build an electromechanical game in ME93: Electronics for Mechanical Engineers, Tufts student Grace Pacelle designed and built a remote-controlled maze.
The assignment was given by Tufts faculty member and manager of the Nolop makerspace, Brandon Stafford. Assignment details included this “spec”:
Project #3: Build an electromechanical game
Your task is to build a game with the following characteristics:
— It is controlled by a microcontroller like an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. (Choose the Arduino unless you’re a Pi zealot.)
— It has at least one electromechanical element that moves, like a motor or a solenoid.
— It has some kind of user input, like buttons, knobs, joysticks, sensors, or the like.
— It is at least sort of fun to play. A blinking LED is not a game.
— (It does not need to have a custom PCB, but it can if you want. If it has a custom PCB, you must make a working prototype first.)
Pacelle is still improving the maze, which she plans to complete by the end of summer 2019. Of the assignment she said:
“For this project, I wanted to make an electronic version of a mechanical marble maze game I played as a kid. The main challenges were writing the code and mounting the motors so that the maze wouldn’t rotate too far or too fast in either direction and lose control of the marble. I considered using rubber bands, gears, and different axles, but I opted for physical simplicity and focused my time on the programming. From this project, I learned a great deal about Arduinos and wiring electronic circuits.”
Video of Tufts student Grace Pacelle operating the electromechanical maze she designed and built in the Nolop makerspace for Brandon Stafford’s ME93: Electronics for Mechanical Engineers course (Brandon Stafford/Tufts University)