HEAD PUZZLE
Role
Time
Type
Team
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:
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Designer, Engineer
March 2023
Mechatronics
Individual Project
This Head Can See You
For my independent study in mechatronics, I wanted to challenge myself, so I set out with a goal of creating a robotic sequential discovery puzzle box while experimenting with AI. This human head puzzle was the result of that challenge.
With servo-controlled eyes, eye lids, and mouth as well as computer vision enabled by a camera in one eye and a Linux based computer on board, this is my most complicated project to date.
Design
This project started out with a free STL model of a human head, which I brought into SolidWorks and modified it to include all of the mechanisms and electronics. The necessary electronics were a Jetson Nano to act as the main control board and interpret the camera, an Arduino to control all of the servos, and an MP3 board to store and play the audio files. The puzzle sequence was designed to give hints as to what the next step is in the solve without giving it away.
Production
Most of the components were 3D printed and then assembled using bearings and screws where I felt they were necessary. The face assembly was made as a separate piece and has to be removed to access the components in the front.
The Jetson Nano and Arduino live in the upper section of the head (like a brain) with fans to make sure they stay cool. Then all of the wires would route down to the middle chamber where they connect to buttons, servos, power, and the speaker.
Programming
The Jetson Nano runs all of the code which controls the puzzle. The whole system is structured using ROS (Robot Operating System) with separate nodes handling speech, vision, movement, eye tracking, button inputs, and the main puzzle loop.
Each node is a python executable that can send packets of information between each other using ROS Topics. The graph of how each of these nodes is connected can be seen in the image on the right.
This Head Can See You
For my independent study in mechatronics, I wanted to challenge myself, so I set out with a goal of creating a robotic sequential discovery puzzle box while experimenting with AI. This human head puzzle was the result of that challenge.
With servo-controlled eyes, eye lids, and mouth as well as computer vision enabled by a camera in one eye and a Linux based computer on board, this is my most complicated project to date.
Design
This project started out with a free STL model of a human head, which I brought into SolidWorks and modified it to include all of the mechanisms and electronics. The necessary electronics were a Jetson Nano to act as the main control board and interpret the camera, an Arduino to control all of the servos, and an MP3 board to store and play the audio files. The puzzle sequence was designed to give hints as to what the next step is in the solve without giving it away.
Production
Most of the components were 3D printed and then assembled using bearings and screws where I felt they were necessary. The face assembly was made as a separate piece and has to be removed to access the components in the front.
The Jetson Nano and Arduino live in the upper section of the head (like a brain) with fans to make sure they stay cool. Then all of the wires would route down to the middle chamber where they connect to buttons, servos, power, and the speaker.
Programming
The Jetson Nano runs all of the code which controls the puzzle. The whole system is structured using ROS (Robot Operating System) with separate nodes handling speech, vision, movement, eye tracking, button inputs, and the main puzzle loop.
Each node is a python executable that can send packets of information between each other using ROS Topics. The graph of how each of these nodes is connected can be seen in the image on the right.
This Head Can See You
For my independent study in mechatronics, I wanted to challenge myself, so I set out with a goal of creating a robotic sequential discovery puzzle box while experimenting with AI. This human head puzzle was the result of that challenge.
With servo-controlled eyes, eye lids, and mouth as well as computer vision enabled by a camera in one eye and a Linux based computer on board, this is my most complicated project to date.
Design
This project started out with a free STL model of a human head, which I brought into SolidWorks and modified it to include all of the mechanisms and electronics. The necessary electronics were a Jetson Nano to act as the main control board and interpret the camera, an Arduino to control all of the servos, and an MP3 board to store and play the audio files. The puzzle sequence was designed to give hints as to what the next step is in the solve without giving it away.
Production
Most of the components were 3D printed and then assembled using bearings and screws where I felt they were necessary. The face assembly was made as a separate piece and has to be removed to access the components in the front.
The Jetson Nano and Arduino live in the upper section of the head (like a brain) with fans to make sure they stay cool. Then all of the wires would route down to the middle chamber where they connect to buttons, servos, power, and the speaker.
Programming
The Jetson Nano runs all of the code which controls the puzzle. The whole system is structured using ROS (Robot Operating System) with separate nodes handling speech, vision, movement, eye tracking, button inputs, and the main puzzle loop.
Each node is a python executable that can send packets of information between each other using ROS Topics. The graph of how each of these nodes is connected can be seen in the image on the right.