Simple Machines

A simple machine is best described as any of the basic mechanical devices for applying a force, such as an inclined plane, wedge, or lever. Simple Machines are used in our everyday lives. For instance, a ladder or flag pole could be considered a simple machine.

 

Types of Simple Machines:

Lever: a rigid bar resting on a pivot, used to help move a heavy or firmly fixed load with one end when pressure is applied to the other. Some examples of levers are crowbars, bottle openers, and seesaws.

 

Wedge: a piece of wood, metal, or some other material having one thick end and tapering to a thin edge, that is driven between two objects or parts of an object to secure or separate them. Some examples of wedges in our everyday lives are wood axes, door stops, and knives.

Inclined Plane: An inclined plane is quite self-explanatory. It's a plane inclined at an angle to the horizontal. Examples of inclined planes are limited since most people refer to them as ramps, and there aren't really any variations of a ramp. 

Pulley: a wheel with a grooved rim around which a cord passes primarily used to lift heavy objects. Pulleys can be found on flag poles, on theater stages, and in construction.

Screw: a short, slender, sharp-pointed metal pin with a raised helical thread running around it and a slotted head, used to join things together by being rotated so that it pierces wood or other material and is held tightly in place. Screws are most frequently used in construction.

Wheel and Axle: a simple lifting machine consisting of a rope that unwinds from a wheel onto a cylindrical drum or shaft joined to the wheel to provide mechanical advantage. A Ferris wheel and vehicular wheels are considered wheel and axle simple machines because the both are wheels with an axle. 

The majority of simple machines can be determined through common sense.

 

The History of Simple Machines:

The idea of a simple machine originated back around 200 B.C from ancient Greek philosopher Archimedes. It was Archimedes himself who had developed the theory of Mechanical Advantage in the lever. He also had the idea of the screw and pulley.

Next came many more minor progressions after Archimedes death, until Heron of Alexandria came along. He listed in his works Mechanics the five different simple machines that make tasks easier; lever, windlass, pulley, wedge, and screw. However early mechanics didn't have a full grasp on the concepts of simple machines, as they hadn't yet discovered dynamics; tradeoff between force and distance.

During the Renaissance, mechanics experimented to see how far they could lift a certain amount of weight, with a certain amount of force, eventually revealing a concept known as mechanical work. 

The inclined plane was only considered a simple machine when Flemish engineer Simon Stevin proved its Mechanical Advantage in 1586.

The dynamic theory was studied and introduced by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1600 in his works.

My Mousetrap Car

First for my mousetrap car, I knew I had to add traction to the wheels or else the whole car would barely move. My initial thought was to add some form of rubber to my wheels, however I was not able to find liquid rubber or rubber glue, so I had to improvise. I thought balloons would work best, but then of course there was the dilemma of getting them on to the CD's. Then it hit me- if I blew up the balloon and pressed the CD into the center while slowly releasing air from the balloon, eventually when the balloon deflated, it would cover the CD. I proved my theory right and repeated the process for all four wheels.

After that, I carefully sawed out my frame from a 2-by-4 chunk of craft wood. I made sure it was wood particle instead of wood because I knew real wood would be to heavy and take away from the car's performance.

The first thing I did to the infrastructure of the car was make it the exact width of the mousetrap, however make it very long, so it would add to the distance. The longer the frame, the longer the lever, the farther it goes.

For my lever I sawed out the bottom portion of a plastic hanger because I knew it would be flexible, which would allow me to wind the string up more. The tricky part was attaching my lever. I thought the best way to go about it would be through melting the hanger onto the snapping part of the mousetrap, and then let it cool to make sure it was secure. I heated the snapper on the opposite side of the lever because I knew it was metal which is a conductor meaning no matter which spot I heated, it would heat enough. I pressed the hanger arm onto the heated metal and watched as it melted. After about five minutes I was able to test the durability of the lever arm and it seemed sturdy enough to proceed.

Though I was heavily focused on distance, speed would be a huge factor as well. I made sure my car had an equal balance of speed
and distance by giving the axle a free, yet firm, rotation, in addition to adding a gear. I cut a cork in half and slid it onto the middle of the axle. Then I added a small piece of a toothpick to serve as an anchor. Next came the fishing line in which I tied a loop on the end, so I could hook the toothpick, however I made sure the fishing line would come off at the end so it wouldn't rewind in the opposite direction and tangle. My fellow classmates made this mistake and therefore took away both speed and distance for their cars. If I could have a redo I would definitely a more complex gear so it would have a much higher top speed. Instead of making the cork smaller, I should have made it cone shaped so it would be easier to unwind and therefore have less resistance resulting in higher velocity and distance.

I had carefully thought this out and had experience in building mousetrap cars, and knew mine was good enough for first place, however a stroke of bad luck hit and a balloon fell of a back wheel. If this had been a front wheel it wouldn't really have mattered because the back wheels are the ones that grip and pull forward, while the front wheels just spin and don't do any gripping. In fact, it may have been an even better idea to have just put balloons on the back wheels. Though this unfortunate event occurred to my mousetrap car, I feel it is still good enough to get first place. It has the speed and goes approximately fourteen and a half to fifteen meters. Hopefully it will be good enough!

Robotics

 Robotics Today:

Robotics is a subdivision of engineering and computer science, in which robots, or machines capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, are programmed to be capable of performing human-like tasks. Today, the field of robotics seems to be on the rise, however the field did not start to receive recognition until the late 20th Century when great innovations in the world of science were unleashed.

History of Robotics:

The idea of a robot was first displayed in the movie Metropolis in 1927. German actress Brigitte Helm played a robot named Maschinenmensch, also referred to as Maria impersonator.

The next step in the history of robotics was when science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, created his three laws of robotics. The first of these laws was, "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." The next was,"A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law." And finally,"A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law." These laws are prominent in Asimov's robotic-based fiction, including his most famous series, Lucky Starr.

In 1984, Norbert Wiener concocted the principles of cybernetics. These principles involve the exploration of different systems, their structure, and the different possibilities and constraints. Concepts explored in cybernetics include; learning, cognition, adaptation, communication, and efficiency. Mr. Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as "the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine."

The latest major step in the field of robotics occurred in the late 20th Century, in which fully autonomous robots were first introduced to the world. An autonomous robot is one that performs with a high degree of autonomy, meaning it performs with a certain measure of freedom. The first autonomous robot was Unimate. It was installed in 1961 to remove hot pieces of metal and stack them. Today, robots occupy many jobs that are too dirty or unreliable to have a human perform. Not only are commercial and industrial robots widespread in today's world, but many improvements in A.I. are allowing people to experience everyday lives in a new way. Nowadays, most people own a smartphone, in which a basic A.I., such as Siri, or Cortana, can assist anybody in need of information, with a simple,"Hello Siri," or "Hello google". Vast improvements continue to be made in the field of science, but even more so in the field of robotics. Boston Dynamics has brought robot fiction to life. They created four legged robots that resemble different animals of today's world. For example, they have created a cheetah-like robot called Wildcat, as well as a dog-like robot named BigDog, and finally a humanoid named PetMan. Their most recent innovation is Spot.

 

Newest Inovation:

Spot is a smaller, quieter, more Eco-friendly version of the series of robots. Spot is approximately the size of a large dog and slimmed down to 160 pounds, not even close to the original series robots. A two-stroke engine powering a hydraulics system, would have made Spot one loud puppy, much like the other robots. However, Boston Dynamics found a way to make Spot much quieter. As opposed to sounding like a chainsaw, like the other models, emitting carbon dioxide, Boston Dynamics switched out the gas engine for an electric engine, making Spot more friendly to the environment, as well as more pleasant to have around. Here's a video of Spot and his owner taking a nice jog around the yard.

 

Innovations in the field of robotics have come a long way. Robots went from being an invention thought to be thousands of years away, and a century later, here we are. As we began to improve upon the beginning stages, in only 50 years, we went from one industrial robot completing simple tasks such as stacking, to being capable of learning and adapting to situations on their own. For example, they can run on different terrains at high speeds and adapt upon switching terrains. If you try to knock it over, it can regain its balance on its own. These machines can now adapt to changing circumstances, and essentially think for themselves.