Scratch Build – In Progress Planet Intel Mod

Hi guys. My mates (PEK) and I are back with another project for 2009. If you didn't remember us you can check out our pasts projects in our website and there are a pair of them in this forums:

- 2007 Tetris Mod Intel
- 2008 Eco-Intel Mod

First we want to thank our sponsor for supporting us one more year:




THE IDEA:

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy named so by the UNESCO. After some brainstorming we decided to make a set of four computers under an structure, each one representing something related to astronomy. The final ideas are:

- Structure: The floor imitates moon terrain (40th anniversary of moon landing), boot footprint and a pair of craters, the columns resemble four rockets and support a dome full of stars. The floor was made with a cloth ant the columns and dome were made with methacrylate.
- Armillary sphere: created 200 years BC, used for positioning the stars. This one was made with methacrylate with some engravings to make lighting effect.
- Telescope: 400th anniversary of it's invention by Galileo Galilei. Also made in methacrylate but painted in white.
- Sputnik: First artificial satellite on Earth. Made from a steel sphere, has a pneumatic system that allows it to open using a switch.
- Spirit One of the actual robots on mission in Mars. Made in methacrylate, has a webcam on the top and its possible to move it with a remote controller.

With those ideas we made an sketchup, hope you like it:



Keep watching for updates!!

 

Will be watching, although the idea seems a bit too novel.

Good luck on incorporating all the parts and then keeping it consistent with performance.

 

This should be very very cool, can't wait to see more.

 

This is going to intresting. I hope you can pull this off and make it look good into the bargain.

 

Thanks for your interest. Today I'm going to show you some "artwork" from the original concepts and a further explanation about each mod from the first ideas to the final decision.

CONCEPT:

This is the original idea for the structure. Metal columns.



And this is the first scketch for the telescope. All wood.



I'll show you more concept art as soon as my friends scan it.


FURTHER EXPLANATION:

- Structure:

The first idea was a metal structure that supports the keyboards, mice and screens. We had some problems finding such columns (few places and very expensives) so we decided to create four pillars in methacrylate (from now "meta") supporting a dome that works like a planetarium. Everything will be made from ice effect meta so the logos from our website and sponsor will be more visible. To support the LCDs we'll make some holes on the columns using the VESA screw form factor, and for the keyboards and mice we'll make a tray.
To make the planetarium effect we though it's possible to make some star pattern with led from different sizes but a friend found a laser projector that probed to work perfect.

- Sputnik:

This one was the most easy mod to plan. Just a big polished steel sphere, then some rounded steel bars for the antennas and some kind of support made from meta for the components on the inside. To make it more atractive a friend had the idea of use a pneumatic actuator to open and close it with a remote switch. This is an image from the original sputnik.



- Telescope:

Our first designs were made in wood but we decided to change the material to meta because it blends better with the structure and the other mods. It's composed by two sections, the base and the tube; the tube is divided in two sections so it can expand. It'll have some mechanisms to rotate, tilt and expand.

- Armillary sphere:

At the begining we though about being able to move te parts like in the true sphere but with the fragility of the material and the complexity of routing the cables we discarded the idea, so it'll be static. The computer will be in the middle of the sphere (motherboard, PSU and hard drive).

- Spirit:



With this mod there's no questions: it must be able to move. We opted for a microITX motherboard to reduce the weight and also a 2.5" hard drive. One of us had the idea of include a webcam into the "head". With this in mind we built a box to insert the hardware over a chassis with radio controlled wheels.

Hope you liked these explanations and understand everything we wanted to create. Next chapter: "playing with adobe illustrator" aka "the puzzle"

 

PLEEZ do Spirit. It will be AWESOME!

 

Hi again. As promised here you got the vectors of most of the pieces used in this project.


First picture: on the left you can see the circles for the armillary sphere and the other piece is the plexy that holds the "solar pannels" from Spirit.


Second picture: the rest of the pieces from the sphere and the little ones at the right top are for holding the antennas from the Sputnik.


Third picture: these are the vectors for the columns, some angles to give the structure more strength at the top left, and on the left side you can see the pieces that support the dome.


Fourth picture: the five pieces at the top are for holding the computer inside the telescope (slides inside the tube). Next are the trays for the keyboards in the columns, followed by the base parts. And at the bottom right there are the parts for the mechanisms for tilt/rotate/expand the telescope.


Fifth picture: these last pieces are from the inside of the Sputnik, kind of complicate to explain. The little ones at the top join the bottom ones together, and the circle surrounds the set.


Your comments and questions will be wellcome ^^

Next chapter: Construction part 1

 

I can't wait to see how this turns out, looks like it's gonna be one epic mod.

 

its a rocket to the frigan moon!

nice

 

Hi! Thanks for your comments. today it's time for some action. Lets go:



CONSTRUCTION PART 1: The telescope

By some unknown reason (everyone forgot how to use a camera) we haven't got many photos from the construction. It isn't much interesting either (drilling holes mostly).

PICTURE 1: We started by assembling the base wich contains the rotation mechanism (4 bearings). The anodicez alu bars are for guiding the expansion of the tube.




PICTURE 2: In the lower part of the tube will be the hardware. The tube was painted white from the inside to make an "Mac" effect.




PICTURE 3: A closeup from the tilt axis




PICTURE 4: Finishing some plexy parts for the visor.




PICTURE 5: Drilling holes for the mobo tray. These things took much of our time with this mod.




PICTURE 6: Installing the hardware into the capsule that goes inside the tube. No great specs, just a microATX board and a Core 2 Duo.




PICTURE 7: This is the result on our pre-party assembly. 11PM... cool!




PICTURE 8: The telescope at the Campus Party (27JUL-2AUG). Too much light!!!




PICTURE 9: Another view. Why did they put a light just over our mod? Bad luck.





We have had some problems building this mod.
- The first one was the visor, we tried to make some mirror trick to show the hardware through it but we ran out of time.
- Another one was the thickness of the plexy, makes the tilt and expansion a little dangerous. The mechanisms are done from gears of plexy :S

In the last post I'll add more photos. I'm just trying not to reveal much of the other mods.


Feel free to comment. I'll be thinking about wich mod will be the next.

 

You certainly haven't disappointed me , this is awesome.

 

wow.. thats alot cooler than i thought

 

I'm glad you liked it. Hope this next one fullfils your expectatives.



CONSTRUCTION PART 2: Armillary esphere

This mod was very easy to build once we had the pieces done. But still is very espectacular.


PICTURE 1: We started by cutting out the letters and numbers.




PICTURE 2: Then attaching them to the pieces.




PICTURE 3: Lets se how it looks...




PICTURE 4: And then... engrave!! Easy job as I said.




PICTURE 5: Next step was gluing all toghether. Yes, it's a syringe.




PICTURE 6: Waiting for drying (a couple of hours only). We used an especific (and poisonous) glue for plexy.




PICTURE 7: Enciclopedia, the base of knowledge. Seems to be finished, doesn't it?




PICTURE 8: The pre-party assemble in the darkness, sweet.




PICTURE 9: Here you got a couple of pictures from the Campus Party.




PICTURE 10: Looked better at home in the darkness.




Like in the previous mod we had a pair of problems.
- The hardware can not be replaced easily. The central pieces were glued so they don't fall.
- We tried to make a rotation circuit but we had some faillures and runned out of time.



This is all with the sphere. Next one: Sputnik.

 

Nice work with the engraving, looks very very good, the sphere looks awesome lit up.

 

thats fery trippy... but i love it!

 

Thanks again for your comments guys. I'm going to show you the next chapter.



CONSTRUCTION PART 3: Sputnik

This mod has a pneumatic mechanism that allows it to open and close by using a switch. Just to make it less simple.


PICTURE 1: This is the pneumatic actuator. Part of the mechanism with a compressor, the tubing and the switch.




PICTURE 2: And these are the pieces of plexy that hold the hardware, in the middle goes the actuator.




PICTURE 3: Then placed into the sphere.




PICTURE 4: We did (oook, one of us) the holes for screwing the plexy.




PICTURE 5: Same job with the bars (antennas).




PICTURE 6: Testing that everything fits into place.




PICTURE 7: Seems that still needs some polishing.




PICTURE 8: Hi! I'm just "hanging" out.




PICTURE 9: The opening at the Campus Party.




PICTURE 10: Looks much better once polished, didn't it?





Problems we encountered? Just one! New record ^^
- The fragility of plexy (again). We broked the ring wich it's suposed to hold the hardware. So we made a trick with some little plexy cubes, not so elegant but worked well.

Just one left: Spirit!!

 

You are doing such a good job, the entire thing is looking awesome, I love it.

 

Hi. It seems that there's no much expectation with this mod, it's a shame.



CONSTRUCTION PART 4: Spirit

This mod it's the most interactive of all the set. We built (yes, not just buy someone) an RC car capable of support the weigth of the components. I'm still waiting for a frient to send me the construction photos (two weeks!!), I'll post them as soon as I have them.


PICTURE 1: This little cube we made keeps the hardware safe from dusty martian ground




PICTURE 2: To make the "head" of the robot we used some PVC pipes and painted them in white.




PICTURE 3: Here you can see the solar panels. Not real, just some plastic material with a mirror effect.




PICTURE 4: Them we glued the letters from our sponsor and website. That was easy.




PICTURE 5: We used an Atom motherboard with a picoPSU, ideal for this job. Yes, we have a G15 as test keyboard hahaha.




PICTURE 6: This photo was taken the test day. You can see the webcam at the top, wireless antenna and lighting.




PICTURE 7: And here are the photos from the Campus Party, you can see the active webcam wich records people.




PICTURE 8: Illumination ruined by the ambient light . You can see the flexibility of the chassis with obstacles.





Here you have the list of problems:
- The glue left some marks on the letters at the top, so we sanded them and voilá!
- The car itself have some problems of stability, but only with obstacles.

Hope you liked it. I'll try to find those pictures from the chassis and a video of the robot "walking". Next post will be the structure and final result gallery.
If you have any question go ahead!
See you!!

 

WOW, a custom RC car that is sssssoooooooo cool, really sweet work.

 

Hi,

A video of spirit: