Our Flaps Towards Flappy Bird

After meeting up with the team, we had a conversation regarding all the mechanisms that we are going to build for the finalized product which is a flappy bird “game.” We jotted it down to three motion split between four machinery, which are:

• Vertical Movement - for the bird, which we are trying to achieve this week via building a linear actuator.
• Horizontal Movement - for the pipes, achievable (ideally) using conveyor belt mechanics, placed within top and bottom of the frame.
• Rotational Movement - using servo motors to place the GAME OVER text to indicate that the machine loop has reached its end.

sketch here later pls, upload it later :>

And finally, we are going to “hide” the mechanisms with a wooden frame to make it aesthetically ✨ look like they’re inside a wooden frame or something of the sorts to mimic the arcade-y feel, which will use hinges so we can easily open it up from the outside in case we need to pull apart & debug things.

Machineworks

Then, we decided for this week we are going to try building the vertical movement for the bird since all of us in one way or another tried to make conveyor belts the past week to see if tackling this challenge would be easier (spoiler alert: no).

Originally, we tried using cardboards and glue to stick our hopes and dreams, but metal says no, so we consulted to professor and he suggested to have a frame where we can attach it to the motor directly.

Then, we use L Brackets to pincer the nut so that it would allow the rod to rotate while keeping the nut in place, hence translating rotation to linear.

Thoughts

We think for a start, this is great. Unfortunately, the entire structure is too brittle and unstable. Partially because the motor is large and heavy enough that when the mechanism goes up, it also has to support the motor weight.

Some considerations:

1. We can use a smaller motor to compensate for this, if we do not need faster movement
2. Or we can build a railing system inside, or tube / pipe perhaps
3. And if we’re interested, we can build the reciprocating motion with servo motors instead.

Eitherway, this week was a really fun process of tinkering and getting our brain neurons activating to think about executing ideas into realities.

Resources We’ve Considered

• DIY Linear Actuator
• Reciprocating motion with popsicle sticks