Kinetic Sculpture exploration

I was busy over the weekend trying to decide what I should put my efforts toward for my final project and decided that I just needed to start playing.  I took out some of my crafting and art supplies and starting working on a prototype for a kinetic sculpture.  The idea for this project was prompted by my work with Servos and how I might be able to incorporate this into an art project/sculpture.  My idea is loosely based on a pinwheel-like structure that would be attached to a Servo motor, going first in one direction and then in the other.  At the end of each arm of my structure there would be another smaller pinwheel-like attachment that would move in reaction to the larger arm.  Here is a video of my initial prototype which I created using thumbtacks, popsicle sticks, beads and hot glue.  I attached it to an awl to help simulate the motion of the servo motor.

As you can see things didn't go quite as planned (nothing new), I had a really hard time getting all three of the smaller pinwheels to move.  I was really only able to get the green one working.  I would say that I messed with it for about an hour and a half and wasn't able to get all three moving the way I had envisioned.  I'm not entirely sure that I have the kind of patience to pursue this type of project at this moment in time.  With school starting in less than two weeks I have a lot of work setting up my classroom and Makerspace! 

Final Project 2015!!

After digesting some of the amazing things that I learned last week at the Institute I am toying around with some ideas for my final project.  The first idea that I had was to create some sort of kinetic sculpture using an arduino and servo, I was hoping to 3D print some of the components as well as use traditional art means.  My second idea was simply just to dedicate some time to finishing up the projects that I started last week and figure out how I am going to incorporate them into my curriculum this year.  My last idea is to devote the next month documenting the process of setting up my new classroom to be more Maker friendly and set up an actual Maker Space in the back room attached to my classroom.  Here are some photos of my old classroom, the constraints of teaching a class in the computer lab were that I do quite a bit of hands on work with my students and there simply was not enough space to do this.

My next door neighbor (the physics teacher) has taken a new job and left at the end of the school year.  I took this opportunity to move into his classroom and hopefully set up a Maker Space for my school.  With PLP's just around the corner a Maker Space is ideal for our students!!  Here is the new space, there is room for computer stations and also work tables in the middle of the room (which were not moved in at the time this picture was taken).  As you can see I have a lot of work ahead of me!!

These are pictures of the back room, I'm hoping to move quite a bit of the stuff out so that I can set up work tables and the beginnings of a Maker Space. We have some woodworking equipment which has not been used for years and plenty of tools available so it is an ideal place for a Maker Space.  I am planning on purchasing a 3D printer and setting up a computer and 3D printing station in the this space as well.  

App Smashing and first cut of Video!

In this stage of my project I had to do a lot of app smashing, switching back and forth between apps to create my video.  I ended up using the Do Ink Drawing app, Do Ink Green Screen app, iMovie and Garage Band to create my video.  I started out with a plan but ended up changing things drastically as I worked because Navigating the apps wasn't as easy as I had anticipated.  After creating my Jitterbots and their backgrounds (all very hands on), I filmed my Jitterbots using the green screen.  The next obstacle was creating the animations which was very tedious and difficult, it took me a very long time.   While I was stumbling through the animations I alternated creating the music for my video.  I ended up building and compiling the pieces of my video one by one.  I had some issues when I filmed my Jitterbots and part of my background needed to be cropped out because you could see the green screen.  I ended up having to crop my video in iMovie because you cannot crop your video in the Do Ink Green Screen app.  After the video clips were cropped I was able to import them into the Do Ink Green Screen app, from there I was able to add my Jitterbots habitats to the backgrounds and incorporate the animations that I created in the Do Ink Drawing app.   The animations needed to be exported to my camera roll before importing them into the Do Ink Green Screen app.  I created four different clips in the Do Ink Green Screen app and exported those to my camera roll.  I then used iMovie to compile the videos, create a title and closing slide and exported my music from Garage Band into iMovie!  I learned a ton about workflow, there was an incredible amount of problem solving.  It took me so much longer than I had thought it would, and my video is just under a minute.  I'm very proud of the end result but know there is room for improvement!  Here it is!

Science and Engineering Practices Standards addressed in my project:

Practice 1: Asking questions and defining problems, my entire project pretty much involved a constant stream of questions and defining the problems and how I would get to my final outcome.

Practice 2: Developing models, my Jitterbots were very planned out and involved creating sketches and then building the Jitterbots themselves.

Practice 3: Planning and carrying out investigations, again I planned out my project ahead of time and had an rough idea of how I would complete each component of my video.

Practice 6- Constructing explanations and designing solutions, I felt as if I was constantly designing solutions for the problems I had with my Jitterbots and getting them to balance and move the way I intended them to, I also had to find solutions for my problems using the apps on the iPad to create my video

Here is my Rubric for this project:

Jitterbots/Sculpture Video

	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Needs Work
Craftsmanship- taking time to make sure the project is done well	All components of the project have been planned and created carefully.	Most of the components of the project have been created carefully.	Only a few of the components of the project have been created carefully.
Planning Sketches and Ideas	All parts of the project (Jitterbots/Sculpture, Backgrounds, Animation, music) were planned out ahead of time and documented in sketch book.	Most parts of the project were planned out ahead of time and documented in sketch book.	One or two parts of the project were planned out ahead of time and documented in sketch book.
Music	Four different pieces of music were created in Garage Band and contain multiple different parts/instruments in each	At least 4 different pieces of music were created in Garage band, each contains at least two instruments.	Only one piece of music was created in Garage Band for the video.
Backgrounds	4 different backgrounds were created by hand and contain depth with multiple different components.	4 different backgrounds were created by hand and contain 1-2 different parts.	3 or less backgrounds were created for the video.
Jitterbots/Sculptures	4 different Jitterbots/sculptures were completed, each are different and unique	4 different Jitterbots/sculptures were created, some look similar to each other.	3 or less Jitterbots/Sculptures was created.
Animation	4 different animations were hand drawn, are seamless and do not distract from Jitterbot/ Sculpture	4 Animations were created using the shapes rather than hand drawn, animation is jumpy.	3 or less animations were created, pre fabricated animations used.
Final Video	Final video edited in imovie and includes all required components (Jitterbot, Background, Animation, opening/closing titles and Music) and is at least 1 minute long.	Final Video edited in iMovie and includes most but not all components, video is from 35-59 seconds long.	Final Video edited in iMove is missing multiple components, video is under 30 seconds.

Making Music and Animations

Last week I successfully finished up filming my Jitterbots with my green screen kit.  It was a challenge for me because I did not have a big space to set up the green screen.  I was able to make it work but if the space had been a little bigger it would have worked much better.  

I filmed the video first with my iPad and then imported the videos into the Do Ink Green Screen app.  I began putting my Jitterbot Habitats behind the Jitterbots themselves which was fairly easy and worked well.  I then began working on music for my video in Garage Band.  I struggled a little to get the music to sound the way that I wanted it to.  I ended up using some of the apple loops in the garage band app and that helped a lot!  I wanted to make four different music clips for each different Jitterbot each with a different feel.  I think I was able to achieve that.

Once I finished up the music I started working on the animations for the video.  I didn't want the animations to take away from the Jitterbots so I decided to make them simple but kept with the color scheme of the robots so it would stand out from the background.  The animations were the most difficult, I used the Do Ink Drawing app.  It is not the easiest app to use and I couldn't find answers to some of my questions through the app or online.  I'm finishing up putting everything together with some app smashing, using both of the Do Ink apps and the iMovie app.  Hoping to have it all finished tomorrow at some point.

Jitterbot Habitats

Today started off wonderful with the completion of my Blue Jitterbug!  I really wish I had quit while I was ahead yesterday rather than trying to finish while I was tired and impatient.  After completing my Jitterbug I started working on their habitats!  Initially I was going to collage these but decided against it and wanted to do something a little more simple.  I started off drawing some habitats for my Jitterbugs by hand on colored paper and then photographing them (I don't have a scanner).  Here's what they looked like:

I wasn't very happy with the ending result, the drawings just didn't have any depth, I wanted them to be simple and not take away from the Jitterbots but I just wasn't happy with these.  I decided to go another route and re draw the images in black and white, take pictures again and then colorize them in Illustrator.  Here is what one of them looks like:

I'm much happier with the result of this one, it's still simple but has a little more depth to it!

Next I have to set up my green screen and start filming!!

Jitterbots!!

Wow!  What a day, I've been working ALL day on my Jitterbots (I decided to give them a new name because they don't really seem like bugs)!  It's been a fun process but definitely frustrating at times.  There has been so much problem solving along the way which requires a lot of patience (it's a good thing I'm a teacher so I have a lot of that!).  So here is what I've been up to.  First step was to spraypaint all  of the pieces of my Jitterbots...pretty much everything came from my recycling bin (which I love!!).

Then I started to put some pieces together and add some decorations, getting everything balanced and looking the way I wanted it was a challenge!

Here is a video of the "tail" portion of my white Jitterbot before I attached it to the bottle (my dog just can't keep his nose out of these things!!):

For some reason I can't get the videos to load on blogger right now... I will try to reload them tomorrow

After I working on the white Jitterbot, I started working on the purple one:

Here is the initial video of my purple Jitterbot:

As you can see, I was having a hard time getting the purple Jitterbot to stay standing.  I had to figure out how to stabilize the purple Jitterbot so that it would stay standing!!

Here is a picture with all four of the Jitterbots in their preliminary stages!  Things changed as I was working, and they definitely changed from my original ideas (see previous blog post with sketch!).

I think what changed the most with my Jitterbots is that I had to figure out how to stabilize them all so that they would remain standing while they were moving.  Some were easier to solve than others.  Here is a video of my white Jitterbot, which was the first one that I finished (my dog was not impressed with my hard work!).  

I ended up putting some cardboard feet on my purple Jitterbot so that it wouldn't fall over while it was moving!  Initially I thought I was going to have to cut down the size of the main body but I didn't have to in the end with the addition of the large feet.  My purple Jitterbot spins in circles!  Here is a video:

Here are photos of the finished white, purple and red Jitterbots:

My blue Jitterbot has become quite a challenge and after working on the first three for several hours I hit a road block.  I killed two hobby motors while working on my blue Jitterbot (the last two I had).  I don't have the tools or skills to fix the motors so I will have to go purchase another motor tomorrow.  So my blue Jitterbot is not completely done but here is a photo:

Tomorrow I am hoping to finish up my blue Jitterbot, I will continue with the next phase of my project.  I have started the next part which is the backgrounds for my Jitterbots, but still have a lot of work to do!!

Getting started.....

I've been swamped since the Create Make Learn Institute ended, I am finally finding some time to start working on my project.  I've been gathering some materials to start making the Jitterbugs for my project.  My goal is to make at least four Jitterbugs.  

So I started with these materials!

I'm planning on making some Jitterbugs that look something like this, I am aware that I might have to change some things as I go.

My plan is to make the Jitterbugs look like Robots, so I will be adding some arms and legs to them (some are already sketched in).  Each plan is labeled with a color, I am planning on spraypainting and decorating the robots in one color.  The reason why I am making them monochromatic (one color) is so that they will stand out from the background that I will be creating for each of them.  The color of the background will be the complementary (opposite each other on the color wheel) color of the robot.  I have not finalized my plan for the backgrounds just the color they will be, I'm thinking about collaging the backgrounds for the "Robots".  

I'm off to spraypaint and start gluing my robots, I will post more soon!!