I’ve been struggling a lot to try and come up with an idea for what to do for this project. This irks me because I’m constantly looking around my house and on the internet seeing cool things other individuals have done and thinking, “Oh I’d like to try to build something like that” but of course when the time comes where I have free reign to do whatever I want, which is also encouraged by a class, I can’t think of anything.

I do have some preemptive ideas that I would like to encorporate to some capacity.

Arudino: The possibilities with Arduino is pretty endless, and it allows for some layers of electronics that would be a lot harder for me to encorporate without the micro controller. I think with an arduino I can both make the end product look better with lights and motors, but also give some level of interactability.

Aviation Related: Once I graduate, I’m going to flight school for the Navy. Aviation is a huge passion of mine. I already have books, models, and posters related to aviation because I am just the coolest person, but I do not have anything super unique that I made. This is sparking some ideas since I think this would have a fun through thread in the project, linking my graduation from engineering school and entering into my schooling as a pilot. I’m not sure exactly how I want to encorporate this, I have some models laying around that I could hack into and make more interactive and unique with lights and motors. I also thought maybe I could build my own drone? But after doing some research into what is required to make a drone, building one seems easy, but trouble shooting and making sure all of the control systems are working properly would likely be something I could not figure out in the remainder of the semester.

Graduation Gift: Since there really won’t be a large ceremony or way to commemorate finishing up 4 years of school, I’m gonna take the responsibility upon myself to create something for myself. I’ve had a lot of random projects over the years, and it’s cool to see the progress I have made and the skills I’ve learned with each project. Obviously my senior design project is the ultimatum in what I’ve learned in my time here. While I am proud of the project, I am probably never going to see it again once I graduate since the school owns it. On top of that, it isn’t very personal so I want to make something that is both personal and really culminates what I’ve learned in my time here. I don’t know what the personal component will look like but I think using code, electronics, Arduino, math based skills/problem solving, fabrication, 3D printing, and laser cutting will really show the range of what I have learned in my time here.

While I do not have a concrete idea of what I want to make as an end product, I at least have an inspiration as of now. I’m going to follow those inspirations and tinker with some intial ideas I have to see where that takes me. Hopefully I will have a more concrete update for the next post, but I would rather show the process I am going through at the moment rather than deciding on something last minute when it really isn’t what I want to do.

Resources

1. https://interestingengineering.com/1-these-17-great-arduino-projects-and-courses-will-make-you-a-pro-in-no-time
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/modelmakers/comments/hy7u1s/im_really_enjoying_the_look_of_these_led/
3. https://www.reddit.com/r/modelmakers/comments/g4egph/aoshima_12000_hms_hood_disaster_diorama_with/
4. https://www.reddit.com/r/modelmakers/comments/gxp3o7/over_gold_beach/