Temporary Museum of Science Exhibit

Overview

Last year as part of my cornerstone of engineering class, I worked with a group to make a temporary exhibit at the Museum of Science that demonstrated the pros and cons of hydroelectric power. For this project, I had to use my skills in AutoCAD, MATLAB, C++, Arduino, and SolidWorks to make our idea come to life.

Our Problem Statement

We need to create an interactive museum exhibit to teach kids about a sustainability topic.

This project must be displayed publicly at the Boston Museum of Science, thus it needs to be educational and interactive. The exhibit should have a clear message that conveys the pros and cons of hydroelectric power and centers around the environmental impact of this method of sustainable energy. To create a memorable experience, it should be simple, enjoyable, and feasible for kids to solve. It must also be safe for kids and not have any choking hazards. The parts must be durable and modular, so they are easy to replace if one does break. Extra parts should be fabricated and available during the expo. It must be self-operating and require minimum assistance from an attendant. We must incorporate a scoring system that factors in both the amount of energy generated and the environmental impact of the dam.

Implementing Solution

Used Solidworks to create a working CAD model of our project including ten different parts
- I modeled mini hydroelectric power plants and Monsters Inc. themed batteries in Solidworks to 3D print.
- I helped my group use AutoCAD to make the base of the exhibit and some of the game pieces to then laser cut them.
Put them together in an assembly that depicts the first prototype of our project

Assembly of Exhibit Base

Created a cardboard prototype based on our CAD drawing
To prepare for our final prototype, we created a bill of materials, a flow chart for the electronics, and a proof of concept.
Generated a wire diagram for all the game elements:
- LED strip lights (that simulated the water level in a dam)
- start button
- game pieces (the dam pieces previously mentioned)
- battery LEDs

Cardboard Prototype

Lastly, after all the planning, we started building our final prototype.
First, we laser-cut all of the pieces needed for the base of the exhibit.
- Next, we glued the game board together.
The next step was to add in all of the wires and electronics such as the LEDs
- We also had to solder wires to make them long enough to reach the RedBoards and breadboards.
- To wire the poster, we needed to solder wires to the strip LEDs.
After we finished with the electronics, we decorated the poster, painted the game pieces, and covered the game board with paper.

Finally, I coded the GUI in MATLAB to display the score, water level, number of batteries powered, hints about the score, and a try again button
We also coded the game to do the following:
- It starts by checking if the power plant piece placed is a micro power plant or a large power plant.
- Then, it checks if one or two turbines have been placed in that column.
- Then it turns on LEDs according to the type of power plant and the number of turbines.
  - For a micro-hydroelectric power plant with one turbine, it lights up three LEDs and for 2 turbines, it lights up 9 LEDs.
  - For a normal hydroelectric plant with one turbine, it lights up four LEDs and for 2 turbines, it lights up 6 LEDs.

Evaluating Solution

To determine if our exhibit succeeds at being interactive and easy to understand, we measured the length of time each user spent at the exhibit with start and stop buttons.
- A greater time spent at the exhibit indicates that the kids were engaged and understood the game.
To see if the exhibit’s message was properly conveyed, we tracked each kid’s scores.
- If scores generally improve, then our game successfully achieved this goal.
- To implement this plan, we added some code to store data for the scores of each kid who interacts with the exhibit.
The average time spent at the exhibit was 4 minutes with an average of 3.56 attempts, and on average, people improved their scores

Challenges and Solutions

Problem: Hydroelectric power isn't super engaging to kids on its own
- Solution: we made the exhibit Monster's Inc themed
- Our poster explained to the kids that they needed to help Monster's Inc transition from scream power to hydroelectric power
Problem: How to differentiate pieces from one another
- Since the micro power plants and large power plants were both placed in the same slots, simply noticing if a piece had been placed wasn't enough
  - For the turbines, there was no need to differential between pieces, because only turbines could fit in the circular holes
  - We had the turbines complete a circuit, which would signal that a piece had been placed
- For the power plants, we tried expanding on this by giving each piece a different resistance and using that to tell the difference between them
  - However, it wasn't very accurate and somewhat depended on how the pieces were placed in the slots
- Solution: The game pieces completed different circuits
  - Each piece either had pennies in the center or along the edges that would complete an inner or outer circuit within the slots
  - This allowed for the pieces to be easily detected

Small Hydroelectric Plant Model

Turbine Model

Large Hydroelectric Plant Model

Battery Model

Wire Diagram for Exhibit

Exhibit Powered on with Game Pieces

Exhibit Powered off with no Game Pieces

Exhibit GUI

Results for Time and Attempts

Results for Scores

Skills Gained

Technical Skills:
- Expanded knowledge of SolidWorks, MATLAB, Sparkfun, Arduino, and AutoCAD and how to apply them to complex, open-ended design problems
- Learned how to code a GUI in Matlab
  - I’m very proud of this because it felt pretty cool to make and because it seems like a handy skill to have
- Learned hands-on prototyping skills such as how to use a laser cutter, how to solder, and how to use a few basic woodshop machines
Soft Skills:
- Learned to make a Gantt Chart to manage deadlines
- Improved my ability to lead by example even when not in a leadership role