Shu Zhang, Xiaolong Mou

Chase The Sun! Non Stop!

http://xiaolongmou.com/pcompdescription4wintershow/

Description

We made a flower pot which can walk and chase the sun light. It use its 4 light sensors to determine the brightest direction in the room, and to servo motors drive it to move around.

We think the plants also can live like mammal or insect, it can run and have its own desire. We also have a preset for plants set in the pot, and the flower pot will give the plants appropriate sun light according to its species. the user who own this flower pot will also get benefit from this, he don’t have to worry about the the plants’s photosynthesis anymore, in the daytime the pot will move close to the window, and at night it will move into the shade to breath.

We are not satisfied with just making a prototype with wood board, we create our project as a complete product. The structure is carefully designed and it's compact. We intend to make this product as a Arduino toy kit. All the parts are laser cut acrylic and screws, it's easy to assemble.

Our project is almost finished. Before the winter show, we only need to adjust the acrylic case size, give the surface a sandblasting. On the show, we think we also need a small piece of ground or table to let the flower pot to move. We can let visitors to change the light around this area, to play with this pot. So we believe the flower pot will be an amazing project on the show.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing