OVERVIEW
My second year of school focused heavily on the fundamentals of modelmaking, and a mechanical development project was my final assignment for the year.
My task was to create a toy based around a simple mechanism and build a functional prototype.
Before even starting ideation, I knew I wanted to make a shark for the mechanism and general form. For the look of the shark, I took inspiration from steampunk-style art of robotic sea creatures like sea serpents, octopuses, and nautiluses.
MECHANICAL DEVELOPMENT
I opted to use a scotch yoke as a mechanism for the toy, transmitting constant rotational motion to an undulating, oscillating motion traveling down a tail to make the shark look like it swims.
The first mockup of the mechanism, made in foam core; while it functioned, it was weak and showed that mechanical sections needed reinforcement
A laser-cut acrylic breadboard mockup made after the paper mockup; while it was fully functional and the mechanism itself was resilient, the tail was reinforced with chicago screws which rapidly lost strength as it worked
A 3D printed mockup at 1:2 scale, created after the acrylic mechanism once the mechanism sizing was settled
PAINTING & ASSEMBLY
FINAL
The final version of the Robot Laser Shark is a crank operated, swimming toy with articulations on the jaw and pectoral fins.
It is finished in an industrial coat of silver and brass paint, with red highlights on the eyes and crank.
For the final version, rotating and load-bearing parts were reinforced with hexagonal brass shafts to increase strength and mechanical reliability. The shark is built to be fully manufacturable through injection molding.
