Page 13 - Making things move_ DIY mechanisms for inventors, hobbyists, and artists

xii Making Things Move

Or maybe you didn’t grow up making things move but want to learn. The students in the
class I teach at New York University’s (NYU’s) Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP)
in the Tisch School of the Arts have been all of these things, and they gave me the
inspiration to write this book.

The class is called Mechanisms and Things That Move, and was created to fill a gap in
the program between what students were already learning how to do (basic electronics,
interaction design, and networked objects) and what they wanted to make (baby
strollers that autonomously climb stairs, wooden mechanical toys, and stationary bikes
that power televisions). The objective is to start with their seemingly impossible project
concepts, inject some basic engineering know-how, and end up surprisingly close to
the original concept. You can see these projects and more on the class site at http://
itp.nyu.edu/mechanisms. I realized in the first year of teaching this class that the
practical experience I had gained from engineering design work could be applicable
to a completely different audience of nonengineers. I was told by one student, “Your
class gave me a whole new world” and by another, “It’s unbelievably satisfying to
design and build something that works.” This book is designed to bring this level of
satisfaction to all the people who want to learn about mechanisms but don’t know
where to start.

There is little purpose to building circuits for an electromechanical project if the
mechanism to be controlled is too weak to handle the task. You can protect projects
from costly overdesign with a basic knowledge of mechanics and materials. To address
these ideas, I’ll cover a breadth of topics, ranging from how to attach couplers and
shafts to motors to converting between rotary and linear motion. You’ll be guided
through each chapter with photographs, drawings, schematics, and images of 3D
models of the components and systems involved in each project. All the illustrations
were drawn by an actual illustrator (and nonengineer) in order to minimize the
intimidation factor of difficult-sounding concepts and graphs. The resulting interpretation
of the concepts is in a playful style designed to be eye catching and friendly.

I emphasize using off-the-shelf components whenever possible, and most projects will
also use readily available metals, plastics, wood, and cardboard, as well as accessible
fabrication techniques. Simple projects are placed throughout the book to engage
you in applying the material in the chapter at hand. At the end of the book, you’ll find
more complex projects that incorporate material from multiple chapters.