O, Maker Tree, O, Maker Tree! (how cardboard are your branches)

As we are nearing winter break and are in the midst of the holiday season, we decided to build a three-dimensional, recyclable, life size Christmas tree, because, well, why not?

At the start of Maker Club on Thursday, December 13th, Ms. Mytko gave us a 6 foot PVC pipe and told us to make a tree.
It involved a lot of trial and error, and at the beginning we were very disorganized. We had about 8 people working on the tree. About 2 or 3 on making the base structurally sound, 1 person on making the pyramid on the top, 2 people on making squares, and a couple people milling about, unsure about what to do. As time continued, we slowly became more organized. We had two people on cutting squares, and three people on cutting holes in the center of the squares so they could go onto the PVC pipe. We couldn't possibly cut holes in flat cardboard slabs fast enough, until Ms. Mytko came by to give us a suggestion. We cut little x shapes into the center of the cardboard like little flaps and the forcefully shove them onto the PVC pipe. Then we really got into motion. WE had a whole system. One person cutting more squares and passing it to another 2 people finding the midpoint of each square, and us passing those to 2 other people to cut the squares, and then finally, to the last person who tested them on the tree "trunk."
By this time, it had started to grow dark and we hadn't put anything on the tree yet, so with help, we lined all the squares up from biggest to smallest and applied them to the trunk. After around ten minutes of forcing cardboard on pipe and duct taping (of course) everything for structural support, we topped it with the pyramid and admired our work. Someone put the first cardboard ornament on the tree! We threw some fairy lights on it to add to the effect and our Maker Tree was complete!
In Friday Maker Club, people made more ornaments for the tree and hung them up!
It was a great success

(we made sure that students who did not practice religion or Christianity would be okay with a Christmas tree)

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

Ritz Cracker Speaker

          On 11/8/18 and 11/9/18 another kid and I made a Ritz cracker speaker. The outside is a normal Ritz box with letters cut out but the inside has two smallish speakers. We were hoping to make it Bluetooth although the thing we were using (sonicIQ) although we didn't get it to work. Although the sound is slightly muffled in my opinion it works great. There is a whole on the bottom to let the power cord through and the hole for the heat sync but other than that it looks like a regular Ritz box with negative letter spacing.

                               

Chicken VR at the Maker Faire

[UPDATE 10.15.18: Chicken VR is now available on Steam. Note that you will need an HTC Vive in order to play it.]

One week ago, we loaded our rented van with kids, chicken crafts, and our HTC Vive, and headed off to the San Mateo Maker Faire. Sunday night we returned with far fewer button-making materials, tired and happy kids, and an Editor's Choice blue ribbon for our project, Chicken VR!

First, a little backstory on Chicken VR: 

At Black Pine Circle School, we're obsessed with chickens. In the science room, there is a chicken calendar, multiple chicken posters, and each of our non-Chromebook computers are named after chicken breeds. The 7th grade science class hatches chickens just about every year, but these birds usually are returned to the farm after a couple of weeks. Until last year, when the garden educator and some students got together to build a chicken coop. After a 2017-year end ceremony, we now have chickens living on campus.

When we were brainstorming for East Bay Mini Maker Faire, we wanted something chicken-related, but also tech-related, with a maker element. We had recently bought our HTC Vive (a few months ago) and wanted to learn more about developing software for it. This is how we got the idea for Chicken VR. It's a first person chicken simulator in virtual reality. You can walk around, eat, drink, and lay eggs.

Our first step was research. 

As with any good project, we wanted to see what was already out there. We searched the Internet and was momentarily crushed to discover that a Oculus Rift Chicken Simulator already existed!  Though it has some really interesting features, we knew we wanted to personalize our first-person chicken experience to match our chickens at BPC.  Plus, the Vive would allow users to walk around in real space, instead of having to sit in a chair.

Another project, Second Livestock,  from Iowa State University assistant professor Austin Stewart "imagines how VR goggles could make chickens believe they’re free-range, even when they’re not. They can explore a virtual grassland, and with future iterations of Oculus, even peck at the ground and bob their heads around to take in the landscape at different angles." (via TechCrunch) Strange, right?

There is also a Virtual Chicken Coop, "the most realistic chicken coop simulator on scratch, currently featuring 10 different breeds of chickens!"

But, we believed we had something different. Besides, can there be too much Chicken VR?

Building Chicken VR

Originally, we brainstormed a design where the trackers would actually be your feet. However, we realized that if we wanted users to teleport, this presents a problem. We thought about getting four controllers, and eventually settled on the design with two controllers held in hands.

We used TinkerCAD to create the wings out of simple shapes. These wings are attached to the controllers and you can flap and teleport. We used Fusion 360 to create the virtual model modeled off our actual school coop.

Designing the coop in Fusion 360

Finally, we used Unity to design the environment, adding terrain and taking full advantage of the "Mass Place Trees" button before applying various textures to complete the look. We worked on the physics of the wings and eventually added rotation to body movement and made sure the body resizes based on head height to accommodate a wide range of users. 

We added teleportation and a health, water, and food system with HealthTracker script. In Chicken VR 1.0 (which we brought to the East Bay Mini Maker Faire) when the beak touched food or water, your scores would increase and there was a dehydration timer involved as well as a health loss if food or water is empty.

Version 1: 2017 East Bay Mini-Maker Faire

We showed an initial prototype version at East Bay Mini Maker Faire and got feedback from a survey. Some of the responses were "interesting..." Here are some examples:

• It should be less 3d
• Make it more reelistik
• You should be abel to lay eggs
• Other chicken friends for me to be with
• Sounds

Version 2: 2018 San Mateo Maker Faire

Before Bay Area Maker Faire (a few weeks before), we removed the health, food, and water tracking systems and added some new features. Now you can lay eggs when you pull the trigger and fly. There's even a purple hand that follows you around and feeds you a worm periodically. There are new sounds, which include "chicken eating," "chicken drinking," "chicken background," "slurp," and "flap."

Besides Chicken VR (which often had long lines) the maker club kids had additional chicken crafts available. People could make chicken buttons, or other chicken-related crafts. The button backgrounds came from a coloring book titled Exotic Chickens: Coloring for Everyone (Creative Stress Relieving Adult Coloring Book Series). The button machines were, as usual, a big hit with kids and adults alike.

We had a great weekend helping people experience what it might be like to be a chicken.

Want to keep updated on Chicken VR?  Leave your email address here. You can also "like" BPC Maker Club on Instagram and Twitter (@bpcmakerclub) and Facebook (@3dPrintinginK12). We tend to share in bursts, like on summer vacation when there is time to catch up with posts. :)

Metal Etching Using Saltwater

I saw this YouTube video yesterday and decided to try this--a process to engrave in almost any type of metal using salt, vinegar/water, and electricity. It takes some experimenting to get right, and you have to use the right kind of battery, but otherwise it works pretty well.

We learned in our first attempt that it won't work on lids for mason jars, because the surface isn't conductive. You'll want to test for conductivity on your material before you try to do anything. We were initially misled, because it "worked" the first time. In reality, water had leaked under our stencil, completing the circuit. Once we made a tighter seal (by using sticker paper for our stencil), it was no longer conducting anything and no longer worked.

Eventually, I successfully engraved in a sheet of stainless steel using a 12v battery.

First, you need to prepare the metal surface. Clean it using rubbing alcohol (91%). (As mentioned, the lid in the picture won't work, but it does illustrate the cleaning step.)

Soak some Q-Tips in a mix of vinegar and salt. You can also use water with just salt but it won't be as strong. The amounts don't matter but you can watch the video (1:28) to get an idea.

You need a power source. We tried using a bunch of 9v batteries but found that this lead-acid 12v battery worked better.

I laser cut a name tag onto transparency paper with a stencil font and stuck it on with some blue tape to prevent the liquid from leaking around the stencil, but you can also use sticky stencils or something else. The video also shows how to use stickers and nail polish to make more complex shapes.

Connect one end of the battery or power source to the metal and one end to the end of the Q-Tip, making sure the alligator clip on the Q-Tip won't touch the metal surface.

Put the Q-Tip on the metal in one spot for around five seconds and then move it to the next spot. It makes a bubbling sound and some smoke. I wiped any liquid off of the surface after each letter.

Here's the result after cleaning:

Also, that YouTube channel is great for other DIY projects and car work.