Amazing Automata
With a group, I designed an automaton: a crank-powered mechanical device featuring moving components connected by hidden gears. Following the design process, we problem-solved our way from an initial idea, to a working prototype, to a final product.
After brainstorming different themes, we decided to let the song Old Town Road by Lil Nas X (link) serve as direct inspiration for our automaton. A wildly popular and polarizing song at the time, we felt that striving to capture the essence of the song in a physical medium would be compelling.
The first order of business was building a working prototype. In a highly iterative process, ideation and building were almost synonymous. Old designs gave way to new and better ones.
The crux of our machine was a spinning corral, featuring the song artist riding a horse. I wanted to ensure that this feature would stand out, so I set out to create something unique.
I designed paper cutouts that, when folded correctly, formed the shapes I needed to assemble a man and a horse. It was a lofty endeavor that required lots of iterating and nuanced adjustments.
The process of building our working prototype was fast-paced and adaptive; our approach was to move quickly and to treat failures as lessons.
Focusing primarily on the mechanics of the prototype, the mistakes we made taught us how to engineer a final product that operated smoothly.
Before building our final automata, we reflected on the lessons we learned from the prototype. Documenting observations and changes we would make, we formulated a plan of attack.
The Product
We aimed to capture the fusion of rap and country music in our decoration by going for a clean look with blingy accents.
Click the play button to watch the automaton in action!
