Interactive Blooming Lotuses!

Collaborators: Nefeli Hadjiyiannis, Fiana Li, Wilson Seet

Introduction:

For our final project this semester, we are tasked to create an interactive object of our choice. As a group, we chose to create interactive blooming flowers! Our goal is to create something that is straightforward, eye-catching, and fun! Our first step is to think and sketch out prototypes and interactive elements.

The flowers are based on lotus. The petals will have a wireframe using green floral wires, allowing for more stability. Different fabric colors will be used to stretch over these wireframes, and create multiple layers to imitate pedals. Each flower will have five petals and the center will have bunches of fabric layered on top of each other to imitate the center.

We will have one large, and one medium flower. These flowers will be placed in a flower box consisting of fake moss and random floral decorations.

For the interactive portion, people will move towards and away from the flower box. Depending on the distance, the petals will bloom the closer you are or close the further you’re away.

Summary of Final Construction:

Our final construction consists of our wooden box, with the felt glued inside to keep things from spilling out through the cracks. The felt is cut in the front in the shape of a rectangle to allow the ultrasonic sensor to see what is in front of the box. In the back there is also a slit cut so that the connector to the Arduino Uno can reach a computer to have the code uploaded. Inside the box there are two blocks of floral foam pushed to either side leaving an empty third in the middle. This allows for all of our electronics to fit in the center of the box underneath the “foliage” and be behind the ultrasonic sensor facing the front. The cord from the power supply module also runs along the inner edge of the box and out the back to be plugged into a wall outlet. In each block of floral foam a large metal rod is pushed in, the stems of the flowers. They are at different heights because there is a larger and smaller flower. Attached to each of these rods is a nut that can screw down and up to adjust the height and rotation of the flowers. These nuts each have a wire system hot glued to them. This wire skeleton consists of a smaller inner circle, glued to the nut with crossing wires. A larger wire circle then is connected to the inner circle with overlapping wire in a radial and grid system. This created a wire “plate” of sorts sturdy enough to hold multiple servos and then have openings for the wires connected to the servos. These servos were initially zip tied to these wire platforms for stability and easy removal. Then these platforms were screwed onto the rods. We 3D modeled out servo attachments, 5 large attachments that could connect to a single petal each. Then two attachments that connect to two smaller petals each, and a single attachment that connects to a single smaller petal. These were then primed and spray painted green. We then also spray painted the wires of the servos after taping off the ends. The servo attachments were then hot glued onto the blades of the servos as well as the back layer of fabric of the petals. The flower petals are assembled by machine sewing a tear-drop shape of two layers of fabric together, turned inside out for clean seams, and a wire threaded through, molded to a petal shape, and soldered together. Pink fabric was sewn to create “rosettes” to go into the center of the flower on-top of the nut and metal rod to hide the mechanics. Each of the metal rods were wrapped in green fabric which was pinned and glued together. The spray painted servo wires were wrapped around this fabric in a “vine” style. Finally, in between each servo, green fabric was bunched and glued in to hide the last of the mechanics and hiding all metal and plastic pieces. The servo wires are then run under the foliage and into the electronics section in the middle. To allow easy access to the electronics and power supply module, moss and “fake foliage” was glued to another piece of felt that was laid over the center section and another over the power supply cord on the right side of the box. To access our electronics all we needed to do was lift the felt. The rest of the “forest floor” was glued and placed in, including moss, bark, fake florals, birds nests, and vines. This all came together to create a forest floor box with hidden mechanics underneath to create flowers that “bloom” as you get closer to them.

Required Software:

• Arduino
• Fritzing (For Schematic)

Required Hardware:

• Servos
• Wires
• Woodbox
• Moss
• Brown Grass
• Sheets of Felt
• Birds & Eggs
• Floral Wire
• Sheer Fabric (Colors: Blue, Green, Rosewater, White)
• Fabric Glue
• Hot Glue
• Soldering Iron
• Solder Wire
• Brass Wire Pad
• USB Cable
• Protoboard Jumper Wires
• Protoboard
• Arduino Uno R3 Controller Board
• Ultrasonic Sensor
• Power Supply

Building the flower box isn't necessary. You can if you feel like it! As a group, we went shopping and got ourselves a nice looking box!

We start with sanding the flower box. We have sanded all sides of the box because it could be a little dangerous if we don't. When people accidentally touch the sandbox, they could get splinters! We will ensure that the box will be safe to touch! The process will take approximately 10 minutes with 2 people taking turns.

After the sanding process, we measured and cut brown felts so that they can fit inside the interior of the box. Then, we used fabric glue to glue the brown felts on each of the two sides that have a big hole in them. This process will take another 15-20 minutes including applying the glue and drying.

To start making the flower petals, we had at least five yards of steel wire. We cut them to be at least 14 inches for the large lotus, six inches for the medium lotus, and four inches for the small lotus. We cut five of each size because there will be five petals for each flower. Then, we curved them up so that it looks like a petal shape. After that, we soldered each of the five wires.

Then, we used the white fabric and cut it into a flower petal shape using a stencil drawn onto pattern paper. Using a cutting mat and rotary blades we pinned the fabric and stencil together to ensure uniform petals. Using a sewing machine we stitched the two pieces of fabric together and then flipped it inside-out for clean seams and no frayed edges. A wire is then fitted into the “pocket” (usually around 14” long) and then we solder the ends together so that it doesn’t tear through the fabric. Finally, the opening in the “pocket” is hand stitched up with white thread. This process is repeated 5 times per flower with varying sizes in the stencils.

To set the circuit up, we have to solder everything on a protoboard. The ultrasonic sensor and servo pins are soldered on. The ultrasonic sensor is powered by the Arduino, so the power and ground pin both connect to the 5V and GND pin. The echo and trig are connected to pins 10 and 9 respectively. The servos are bridged together so that all PWM wires are connected to one pin, and the power and ground wires are connected to one pin as well. Because we have 8 servos, we decided to have 4 servos pins soldered together at a time. The first 4 were connected to digitalPin 3, and the others were connected to pin 5. We then have positive and negative charge wires connected to the rails. We have one jumper wire soldered on to have a common ground. There’s also a power attachment soldered on, this way all the servos can be powered by an external power supply and have enough power to all simultaneously move. A positive and negative wire are soldered onto the rail, then attached to the power attachment. With this, the ultrasonic sensor is powered by the Arduino and the servos are powered by the external power supply.

To attach the flower petals to the servo, we had to create different 3D models. The first one was to cover the already provided servo attachment. This way we can have other objects placed on the servo without damaging it. The servo attachment was around 1.4mm tall, 13.5mm long, base around 5.3mm and the tip at 4mm. Using Fusion360, we created a cap that will slide on the attachment. By using the dimensions, we created something 2mm bigger, this way the cap will cover the attachment nicely. Next, we had to create a petal attachment. The petals needed support and had to be glued on the servos, so using Fusion360 and the form tool, we created attachments that mimicked the petal shape. Finally, we needed a small connector that would connect the cap and petal together. A simple box would do. Having all of these let us connect the petals to the servos.

After 3D printing all of them, we hot glued them together. This fits onto the servo attachments nicely.

To set up the code, you will need to open up the Arduino IDE application on your computer. The code is in our Github Repository. First, you need to connect your Elegoo Uno R3 to your computer. And simply copy and paste the code from the Github Repository into the Arduino IDE. Then, simply upload and verify the code. After uploading and verifying the code, the servo should move based on your distance. Keep in mind that you need to have the circuit working first. See step 3 to see how we set up the circuit based on the schematic.

Our last step is to put everything together. We decided to use steel sticks to hold our lotuses up. We have soldered the steel wires together (must be in a circle) so that it can hold our servos up. We tied, hot glued, and used cardboard to sandwich our servos to the circle steel wires so that it is secure.

We took our 3D printed models that held the flower petals together and hot glued it onto the white fabric petals. We added moss, fake dirt, tons of flowers, birds, etc. into the box! And to make our lotuses look good, we added a handmade fabric flower center! Lastly, we attached our fabric flower petals to the servos.

For more in-depth detail, please refer to the "Summary of Final Construction".