Ultimaker developer Alex assisted with an Ultibot-D robot project and invited teacher Greg to collaborate. They are adventurous cheerleaders, encouraging students and adults to create with existing equipment.
Their goal was to transform a static robot model into an interactive one, a significant undertaking. Therefore, they 3D printed a base model at a 1/5 scale and handed it over to students for exploration. Students were genuinely interested in the challenge of designing and developing their own Ultibot.
Interestingly, he gave the students a basic Tinkercad model, and the students quickly discovered some errors in the model file. When the students asked, the mischievous teacher said, "Surprise! Yes, that's part of the challenge."
Students new to 3D printing models took some time to get used to the operation. To help them adapt, the teachers also created some mini-lessons in Tinkercad. They also used the basic tutorials provided by Tinkercad and Autodesk. After completing the tutorials, they collaborated with partners to create two software exploration activities: Tinkercad's "Assemble a Hamburger" project and making a box with a lid.
These were great ways for students to familiarize themselves with the software. Assembling a hamburger helped them understand movement and move objects as efficiently as possible. Although the lidded box wasn't planned, it allowed students to learn techniques for assembling shapes. Students could use the collaborative work extension in Tinkercad, which allowed them to discuss online or mutually edit rapid prototype files.
These students racked their brains and came up with an idea inspired by "LEGO: Ninjago." They sketched concept art and planned important details. They discussed what they liked about each idea and combined these ideas. Eventually, they also thought of a key question: how to develop from an idea to a physical object? They grouped themselves by prototyping different parts of the robot. Students met face-to-face once a week, constantly working on their project, or came in before and after class to discuss.
After several weeks of research, they then explored how to connect the robot parts. Magnets and styrofoam models encountered bottlenecks on the table. Ultimately, we decided to use 3D printing, and then we found a dinosaur skeleton on a shared platform.
They particularly liked the dinosaur and printed it to play with and study its joints. Using Tinkercad to assemble these different joints and then printing them with an Ultimaker 3D printer for testing elevated the lesson to a new level. After discussing their different functions and actually testing them, they finally selected the rotating ball and the active snap-fit for the neck and arms.
Next, they scaled up the joints. We calculated the size of the giant robot's shoulders and the scaling factor to adapt it to our usable size. However, the first set of printed joints didn't work. They returned to the original socket to clarify the problem. It turned out that the small socket could bend, while the larger one could not. Finally, the students concluded that this was a design problem, not a hardware problem. The teachers suggested that students change one variable at a time, because if the joint was scaled up proportionally, the gap in the middle would also be very loose. Later, the horizontal distance of the connector was widened by two millimeters, which allowed the ball to slide into the socket.
This project is still ongoing, and students are exploring ways to separate robot components for production and create interactivity. They first tried Littlebits encoders that could change different parts; they hope to share more results with everyone in the future.
3DMart also recently supported a robot project, which is currently in an undisclosed competition. Once the results are out, we will share the developers' hard work with everyone. Additionally, we will be at the Taipei World Trade Center Hall 3 for the Bike Show from October 31st to November 3rd! Come to booth G0358a and get free gifts! All the latest news will be posted on our fan page, so follow us to stay updated!
If you are interested in Tinkercad, you can check out some complex creations by KrasherOx on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrasherOx
Original link: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/52717-modifying-an-stl-with-tinkercad?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Ultimaker&utm_content=Modifying%20an%20STL%20with%20Tinkercad%20|%20Ultimaker