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<Glow-Hoop>

<Glow-Footbag>

<Glow-Diabolo>

<Tauntaun>

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<MTT>

<Lambo-EV>

<Bearacuda>

<About>

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<Glow-Hoop>

Objective:

For Christmas in 2011 I decided to make my mom a purplish LED hoop that she could use at prop festivals and jams.

Videos:

Pictures:

Features/Specifications:

· HDPE plain white Hoop

o 6.25” ID tubing, 37.5” circumference hoop

o push button connector to easily access charger port and LED harness

o Hoop provided by Nina Infinity

· LED Harness

o 21 LED strand with current limiting resistors

o White/blue/purple/purple/blue repeating pattern

o Evenly spaced along circumference of hoop and wrapped in bubble wrap to prevent rattling

· Rechargeable Battery Pack

o 4.8V 2300mAhr rechargeable NiMH pack (AA’s)

o Battery weight evenly distributed across the circumference of hoop

o Runtime: ~5 hours

· Charger

o Prophet sport AC/DC peak charger

o Able to be charged from wall outlet at home or from car battery at festivals

o Max charge rate: 1A

o Charge time: ~2.5 hours

· Low voltage indicator

o Detection at 4.1V to prevent damage to batteries

o A MAX8212 turns off ¼ of the LED harness to indicate to the user that they need to recharge their hoop

Future Work/Notes:

· Switch to a single easy to swap in/out rechargeable lithium ion cell.

· Improve low voltage circuit such that the LED’s and battery automatically shutdown when voltage is too low (maybe find battery with this as included feature)

· Find LED’s with built in current limiting resistors to reduce construction time.

· Experiment with programmable LED hoops

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<Glow-Footbag>

Objective:

I wanted to enhance my footbag performances by adding a glow element to the both the footbag and the shoe.

Videos:

Pictures:

Features/Specifications:

· Footbag

o White transparent fabric

o Weight: ~70g

o Filler: clear beads + metallic filler for extra weight

o 6cm diameter for added visibility

· Shoe

o White quantum 03’s

o Repaired inteps

o Decorated with glow sticks

· Battery pack

o Single CR2032 button cell battery (3V, 225mAhr)

Future Work/Notes:

· Add in sensors to create interactive element (i.e. bag lights and/or shoe lights up when in proximity to each other)

· Experiment with glow-wire

· Find heavier/clear/transparent filler to help increase bag weight and improve the brightness of the bag

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<Glow-Diabolo>

Objective:

It was impossible to find a charger for my old diabolo LED kit, so I decided to make my own custom kit that would be both brighter and last longer.

Videos:

Pictures:

Features/Specifications:

· Diabolo

o Finesse Evolution 4 Diabolo - Green

o Has existing holes for mounting LED kits to spindle

· LED Circuit

o 4 green LED’s (2 axial + 2 radial) per cup

o On/off switch

o Soldered to green protoboard

o Held to 3xAAA holder with zip-ties or elastic bands

· Rechargeable Battery Pack

o 3.6V 850mAhr rechargeable NiMH pack (AAA’s)

o Battery weight evenly distributed across the hub of the diabolo

o Housed in standard 3xAAA holder

o Runtime: ~14 hours

· Charger

o Energizer smart charger

o Charge time: ~6 hours

Future Work/Notes:

· NiMH are a bit too heavy and make the diabolo feel sluggish

· Switch to a single easy to swap in/out rechargeable lithium ion cell (button if possible).

· Add LED’s to the diabolo sticks. Right now it is kind of hard to see the string/sticks in the dark

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<Tauntaun>

Objective:

For Halloween 2011 my brother-in-law decided to make a walking Tauntaun costume. In order to increase the realism of the costume he asked me to design animatronic eyelids.

Videos:

Pictures of entire costume:

Features/Specifications for Animatronic Eyelids:

· Actuator

o Hitec HS-55 servomotor in each eyeball

· Servo Controller

o Arduino Duemilanove

o Custom software that blinks the eyelids every 5-10 seconds and winks every 5-8 blinks

· Mechanism

o Servo fixed to block of wood inside hemispherical plastic eyeball

o Servo wire transmits rotation of servo horn to blinking movement of eyelid

· Battery pack

o 8.4V 2200mAhr NiMH battery pack

o Runtime: ~ 8 hours

· Charger

o Prophet sport AC/DC peak charger

o Able to be charged from wall outlet at home or from car battery at festivals

o Max charge rate: 1A

o Charge time: ~2.5 hours

Future Work/Notes:

· The costume was a huge success and won 1^st prize in two separate Halloween events put on by radio stations in Edmonton. The total prize money won between both events was $6000 + an all terrain vehicle valued at $10000.

· The blinking/winking of the eyelids blew many drunk peoples’ minds

· Future work may involve getting other parts of the face moving including side to side movement of the eyes and the opening and closing of the mouth.

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<MTT>

Objective:

To design a Myoelectric Training Tool (MTT) for upper-limb amputees to help them learn how to use myoelectric technology in advance of being fit with their actual prostheses. This training tool is also used as a research platform for creating improved myoelectric controllers and sensory feedback systems.

Videos:

MTT Demonstration Video

Picture:

Research Poster:

(View Poster in PDF)

Features/Specifications:

· Robotic Arm

o AX12 Smart Arm (Crustcrawler Inc), 5 degrees of freedom (DoF) similar to commercial prostheses

o AX12 3D Simulator – software based simulator that can be used in situations where actual robotic arm is infeasible

· EMG Acquisition

o Delsys Bagnoli-8 EMG Acquisition system (8 Channels)

· Control Software

o Development environment: xPC Target real time operating system

o Conventional EMG controller allows for control of up to two DoF simultaneously with an extra channel available for sequential switching on one of the channel pairs

· Graphical User Interface

o Windows based GUI developed in Microsoft visual studios

o Allows patient to view their EMG signals and save/open/adjust their controller settings

Publication:

· The Development of a Myoelectric Training Tool for Above-Elbow Amputees

Future Work/Notes:

· Research prototype developed for my MSc graduate degree

· Clinical prototype, machine learning based controllers, and sensory feedback systems in development as part of my current position at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and University of Alberta

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<Lambo-EV>

Objective:

To convert a Lamborghini Diablo replica car from internal combustion to electric while still achieving comparable acceleration, max speed, and range.

Development Poster:

(View poster in PDF)

Presentation Pictures:

Future Work/Notes:

· Developed for my 4^th year capstone course in Mechanical Engineering

· 1^st place MecE 460 Capstone Award Competition (selected to represent University of Alberta at nationals)

· 3^rd place in CSME National Student Design Competition

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<Bearacuda>

Objective:

To design and build an autonomous underwater vehicle to compete in the AUVSI International Robosub competition.

Videos:

Pictures:

Future Work/Notes:

· Developed as part of the Autonomous Robotics Vehicle Project (ARVP) at the University of Alberta

· I was the mechanical team leader and oversaw the development of the Bearacuda platform

· Placed 17^th out of 25 teams in the 2008 competition

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<About>

Contact Info:

· Name: Michael (Rory) Dawson

· Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada

· Email:

About Me:

I’ve been designing/making/creating/inventing/building things for as long as I can remember. Throughout elementary/junior/high school I couldn’t seem to settle on a single medium and went through several different phases. As a result I’ve ended up designing a little bit of everything. Some of the areas I’ve dabbled in include websites, graphics, video games, computer networks, mechanics, electronics and robotics. My most recent fascination is applying robotic systems to prosthetic and orthotic applications.

Education:

· MSc in Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, 2011

· BSc in Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, 2008

· NAIT Manual Machining Course

· Cisco Certified Network Associate Program: Semesters 1, 2, and 3

Picture:

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