My final project is inspired by one of my favorite movies, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. The brave Ponyo from the film left a deep impression on me. My product is called the “Ponyo Night Light.” It can automatically adjust its brightness based on the surrounding light levels, saving users the hassle of manual adjustments. It also solves issues such as the night light being too dim or forgetting to turn it off after sunrise.
During the soldering process, I failed countless times, which taught me the importance of patience. If I were to further improve my project, I would first add more seaweed to the base. Additionally, I would include an alarm clock feature to remind people to wake up when the light is turned off. Thank you, everyone!
My first design is a music box that adjusts the brightness of its light based on changes in the external environment. The specific design can reference the style of Hayao Miyazaki’s film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. The space inside my Snow Globe is divided into two parts, the bottom part of the goldfish girl will be filled with uv glue or Water, and the top part of the boy’s home will be air, and there will be a light sensor on the base, and based on the analog signal output from the sensor, and then a further analog signal to the led light to change the intensity of the led light.
My Google Doc (including my Introductions, Materials, Steps)
My first design is a music box that adjusts the brightness of its light based on changes in the external environment. The specific design can reference the style of Hayao Miyazaki’s film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.
Initial Sketch
My second design is also inspired by the movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.
My second design represents Sosuke’s house on the waves of the sea. Below, there is a rotating magnet, and above, the “sea surface” is made with magnetic powder. By rotating the magnet, the shape of the magnetic powder on top can change, and the intensity of the waves along the shore can be adjusted through Arduino.
My last design is about the use of motor, you can adjust the speed of the motor, The crawling speed of the caterpillar can be adjusted.
My Halloween costume concept is an angel who governs the workings of the galaxy. The various spheres on my head represent planets of different sizes, while the wings on my back symbolize my angelic identity.
My process involved painting the inside of small transparent acrylic spheres with glow-in-the-dark paint to simulate planetary atmospheres. I connected these spheres with wires in a circular arrangement. After completing the soldering for the LED string lights, gamma, and switch, I placed the LED string inside, making the spheres glow. Finally, I attached them to a horned headpiece.
Throughout this project, I learned some valuable lessons. One was the importance of ensuring that no other coating is on the wires before soldering; they need to be sanded down first. Also, during testing, it’s essential to solder everything first and then conduct tests. I also learned some Arduino programming knowledge.
If I were to make this decoration again, I might suspend the galaxy spheres above my head using wire. I’d also consider adding a motor and corresponding Arduino code to make my “galaxy” rotate.
My Arduino Code
My Circuit Diagram:
For the angel wing:
Materials used:
Warping foam: Fedex
Iron wire: VFL
Old white T-shirt
Making process and refection:
I started my wing-making process with a wire frame for the structure. Then, I used fabric from old clothes to create a flat surface between the wires. I cut foam into three different sizes—large, medium, and small—to mimic feathers and glued them in the natural growth direction on the wings. Finally, I used curved wires to wrap the wings around my arms for support.
Throughout this project, I learned the importance of collaboration. A big thanks to Tong and Ana for helping me to achieve this last-minute idea, and to Monty, who taught me how to secure the wires. If I were to make the wings again, I’d make the back fuller to give them a more authentic wing-like appearance.
My final thought about Halloween Costume is my second idea–horn. But the decoration on the horn, according to the suggestions from Becky and knowledge from Sinclare’s classes. I’ m gonna make it more dynamic, the sketch is attached below.
My design concept is to dress as a deity who governs astronomy. The rotating small spheres on the ram’s horns represent the solar system or other constellations. The overall design will be silver and white, with different lights reflected beneath the lamp.
The Arduino techniques i’m gonna use is NeoPixels, I’m gonna let the lights inside the spheres in the “solar system” on my head shine one by one and then shine at the same time, or use the button to switch three mode including all on, shining one by one, and off.
To-do list:
Complete the Circuit on the Arduino board
Make the structure of the horns use iron wire
Use the yarns to complete the surface of the horn
Fill the acrylic sphere with Flowing sliver sequins
Connect them on the thinner iron wire to make small solar system
Although I am still using a guy as the main body of the night light, the overall concept has changed. The new nightlight is called “Veggies Boy,” and he is having a picnic. As the name suggests, its purpose is to remind people to eat vegetables, so my target audience is children or adults who don’t like vegetables. From a slightly more “evil” perspective (since Halloween is coming soon), the story is that a child who didn’t like to eat vegetables was turned into a doll by a witch, and the only way to turn them back into a human is—by eating more vegetables!
Description of materials and parts used:
For the materials used: buttons, soft fabric , thick wires
Something new I tired:
In this project, I tried something new: splitting the wires extending from the battery box into two parts, connecting them to the positive and negative ends of the light bulb, while also adding heat shrink tubing, soldering resistors, and so on. Although the process was complex, I felt very excited and accomplished when I finally saw both light bulbs light up.
Surprising or Challenging Parts
This was also my first time attempting to connect different processed fabrics, even those already stuffed with cotton, through sewing. This turned out to be one of the biggest challenges I faced. For the connection between the doll’s legs and body, I only sewed from the outer side of the body, which resulted in a particularly stiff joint. For the connection between the doll’s arms and body, I tried a different method by sewing the fabric from the inside before stuffing it with cotton and threading wires. This made the joint look a bit better, though the outer stitching was still somewhat imperfect.
Future work
So, if I have time, I will put more effort into the connections between the body and limbs to make the joints more natural. I also want to make the doll more three-dimensional and am considering adding movable joints.I will also sew some vegetables to place in my basket, making the nightlight more closely align with my theme.
Description of my night light’s story and the target user:
My design inspiration comes from the fact that many children are afraid of the dark when they sleep at night and need a small night light. The fabric used is from one of my favorite old clothes, but it had fruit stains that couldn’t be washed off, so I repurposed it. The overall design was inspired by children getting their clothes dirty and blushing when faced with scolding.
For version 1 materials:
Base: Plywood
Cloth stand: iron wire or wood stick, heat shrink tube (change the color and hide the wire)
Cloth hanger: MDF (use laser cutting)
The boy model: fabric, iron wire (as support), old clothes
Clothes: fabric
Circuit diagram:
Version 2
Brainstorm:
update:
I’m going to use Version 2 but without base, gonna use more soft materials and no cloth stand anymore. The boy’s materials is orange soft fabric:
I teared down the keyboard first with my hand and screw driver. This part is really loose and everything can be separated easily.
Picture 1: Finished
Picture 2: In detail
Generally, there are seven parts in the keyboard.
Parts Name
Materials
Manufacturing method
keyboard Case (black)
Plastic
Injection molding
Keyboard Plate (black)
Plastic
Injection molding
PCB (Printed Circuit Board)
Glass fiber with copper traces, Plastic, Rubber
Photoengraving, injection molding for plastic and rubber
Battery
Stabilizer (small white)
Plastic
Injection molding
screws
steel
Cold forming, Hot forging, Machining
Keycaps
Plastic
Injection molding
PCB processes the inputs from the key switches and sends them to the computer. key board case and plate are used for supporting and holding all the components including the keycaps. Stabilizers are used for stable the keycaps while you pressing them. Usually, the keyboards have mechanical switches looks like this:
For my keyboard, I think they are replaced by the little deformable rubber buttons on the PCB. Keycaps for pressing and screws are used for fixing.
Tablet Computer:
Then, I move to the tablet computer. And the tools are also hands and screw driver. This part is little bit hard to tear down as some screws are in bad conditions.
Picture 1 starting:
Picture 2: Finished
Parts Name
Materials
Manufacturing Method
Mother board PCB: PCB for charging and speaker:
Copper, Composite Epoxy Material (Low cost and single layer PCB), Polymide
Silkscreen (for fronts on the board), Photolithography Electroplating and Electroless Plating, Surface mount technology
one fluid motion: mixing, coating, drying, stacking, winding
Touch screen
Glass
Laser cutting
Connection wires
copper
stranding, Insulation and Shielding
PCBs that contains ICs on them in the computer are used for receiving, processing, and sending the electric information from the sensors.
There are a lot of chips within: Qualcomm PM8921 Power Supply Management IC Chip EDJ4216EFBG-GNL-F Integrated circuits chip SlimPort ANX7688 is an ultra-low power 4K Ultra-HD (4096x2160p60) mobile HD transmitter designed for portable devices
Tools and techniques: Strong hands and a small screw driver
Two special Items:
Special PCB for the keyboard: What makes its special is that the one part of this PCB is made of Plastic and rubber instead of the metal and its combine the mechanical switches with the board, which results in saving of the space and the keyboard looks small and has light weight for carrying and using. And the rubber provides a very good user experience when you use keyboard as there is almost no noise.
Stabilizer for the keycaps: I think the stabilizers are fixed in a very thin and stable way under the keycaps. The intention of the designer can also be saving spaces and reduce weight.
