Hannah created a robot that aims to appear to be writing or drawing. She used a pulley system with fishing line and servos to move an egg carton arm attached to a shoe box body. Getting the arm to move in a way that looked like writing was challenging, but enhancing the pulley system by adjusting and replacing parts helped overcome this. The rewarding part was seeing the robot finally function as intended.

1. ARTS AND
BOTS
MY DESIGN NOTEBOOK
ASK
IMPROVE IMAGINE
CREATE PLAN

2. THIS DESIGN NOTEBOOK BELONGS TO:
Hannah Doak
My Goal: I hope to create
a robot that appears to
be writing/drawing like
the one in my Unit Plan’s
novel The Invention of
Hugo Cabret.

3. ARTS AND
BOTS
MY DESIGN NOTEBOOK
ASK
IMPROVE IMAGINE
CREATE PLAN

4. THIS DESIGN NOTEBOOK BELONGS TO:
--·-----------------------

5. Arts & Bots Quick Reference
Outputs - Light
Name and Image What does it do? Plug it in Icon
LED
It is a single color
light source with
controllable
brightness.
 Color  +Positive
 Black  - Ground
The colored wire of the LED indicates the
color of its light!
Tri-Color LED
It is a red-green-blue
(RGB) light source
which can produce
many light-based
colors.
 Red  RRed
 Green  GGreen
 Blue  BBlue
 Black  -Ground
Outputs - Motion
Name and Image What does it do? Plug it in Icon
Servo
It is a limited range
motor with controls
for specific angular
positions.
 Yellow  SSignal
 Red  +Positive
 Black  -Ground
Motor
It is an electric
motor with speed
control that can
rotate in either
direction
indefinitely.
 Yellow  +and -
Since both wires are the same color, the
motor can be plugged in two ways.
Switching them just changes which direction
is “forward”.
Vibration Motor
It is a small motor
that causes a
shaking motion
where you can
control the intensity
of shaking.
 Yellow  +and -
Since both wires are the same color, the
vibration motor can be plugged in two ways.
Switching them just changes which direction
the weight spins.

6. Inputs (Sensors)
Name and Image What does it do? Plug it in Icon
Distance Sensor
It is a sensor that
detects how far
away something is.
 Yellow  SSignal
 Red  +Positive
 Black  -Ground
Light Sensor
It is a sensor that
detects how bright
the ambient light is.
 Yellow  SSignal
 Red  +Positive
 Black  -Ground
Temperature Sensor
It is a sensor that
detects the
temperature.
 Yellow  SSignal
 Red  +Positive
 Black  -Ground
Potentiometer
It is a sensor that
detects how it has
been rotated.
 Yellow  SSignal
 Red  +Positive
 Black  -Ground
Notes:
Version 1.1 – March 2012

7. AS
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR ROBOT TO LOOK LIKE?

8. WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR ROBOT TO BE ABLE TO DO?
I hope that my robot shall be able to appear to be writing/drawing.

9. ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS
GOA
ASK
TO LEARN HOW TO CREATE AND PROGRAM A ROBOT
 WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR ROBOT TO LOOK LIKE?
 WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR ROBOT TO BE ABLE TO
DO?
IMAG
 RESEARCH
 BRAINSTORM IDEAS
 CHOOSE THE BEST ONE!
PLA  DRAW A DIAGRAM
 MAKE A LIST OF MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED
CREA  FOLLOW YOUR PLAN AND CREATE IT!
 TEST IT OUT!
IMPR
OVE:
 TALK ABOUT WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN’T AND
WHAT COULD WORK BETTER!
 MODIFY YOUR DESIGN TO MAKE IT BETTER
 TEST IT OUT!

11. IMAG
DESIGN BRAINSTORM
What do you want your robot to look like?
What do you want your robot to be able to do?
Where did you find your idea for your robot?
In the novel that my Unit Plan is based around

12. OTHER QUESTIONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOUR PARTNER ABOUT THEIR
ROBOT DESIGN

13. IMPR
WHAT WORKS? WHAT DOESN’T WORK? WHAT COULD WORK
BETTER?
Servos
Pulley
Fishing wire
Motors Pulley using a
popsicle stick as a
base

15. PL
DESIGN MATERIALS: WHAT MATERIALS WILL YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR ROBOT?
(Servos, fishing line, popsicle stick) for the pulley
Egg carton arms
Shoe box for body

16. PL
DESIGN SKETCH: SKETCH YOUR ROBOT

17. Arts and Bots Project Development Worksheet
Project Title: The Inspiration of Dreams
Project Leader/Liaison:
Hannah Doak
The Purpose and Main Features of the Project: to move arm in a motion that projects the appearance of
writing/drawing
Preparing the launch
Curricular objectives and scope of the project: to teach that anyone is capable of inventing
Learning activities: go over previous inventors/inventions
Learning outcomes and assessment: students shall design their own invention and describe the critical
thinking process they utilized
Resources and support
Project Showcase

18. ARTS and BOTS Interview Questions
To identify the "story" behind each robot, try to cover the following points, and
develop the ones that sound more interesting for each specific interviewee. Of
course, if anything else comes up in the conversation that is interesting and not
part of these points - dig deeper.
 Tell me about how your robot works – what electronic parts did you use and
what do they do? My robot uses a pulley system consisting of fishing line, servos,
and a popsicle stick. The fishing line pulls the side of the arm out and the servos
returns to resting position to take the arm back in to create the writing
movement
 Identify decisions made (materials, technology, programming, story)
originally two servos were used, one for lifting the arm and one for
moving the arm side to side. However, the servos used for lifting the
arm proved to be useless and was removed. The pulley system had to
be adjusted multiple times and replaced. The Popsicle stick as a base
was not used, until a peer gave the most helpful suggestion.
 What did you enjoy the most about this process, what was the most
rewarding part of the experience? Why? How so? Getting the robot
to function was most assuredly the most rewarding part. It was a
difficult process and to finally get the arm to move was exciting.
 What was the most challenging part of this assignment for you? Why? How
did you overcome / resolve it? Getting the arm to move. It would move
slightly, but it was not enough to look like writing. Hence, I enhanced the
pulley system
 What did you learn from this project (about robotics and the curricular topic)?
It was much easier than I had previously assumed.
 Show / describe the robot doing its thing (+ the assignment if relevant)