Creature Feature

We wanted to create a creature inspired by a Furby and a Tamagotchi. We combined both designs into one by having the Creature be interactable with buttons like Tamagotchi's while having the physical form similar to a Furby. We wanted our creature to be able to respond to user input and react with organized and deliberate behaviors.

• Meet the Team

Overall, we learned that integrating a project is really hard and a lot more time consuming than one could ever imagine. There really is no way to get this kind of experience any other way than just going through it. One of the most important things for this project is not even anything technical. Communication is extremely important and it also extremely easy to not communicate effectively. People interpret things differently, tasks can be confusing and vague, and expectations can vary drastically from member to member. We learned that ineffective communication plagued our team for awhile, but we also learned its importance and how to make sure everyone is on the same page at all times.

On the technical side, we learned tons of things. A lot of the electrical processes were new for Elias and he got a lot more experience creating electrical systems and creating finite state machines. Brenna put their knowledge from another class and applied it in a new context to hone in their knowledge and skills. They learned how to use OnShape when aiding with the mechanical design. Anna learned how to design a whole mechanical system and how to take other engineering majors into account when making a system. They enhanced their confidence in OnShape and utilized new manufacturing techniques to make the creature easy to assemble. Sascha learned a lot more about OnShape and gained more confidence making parts in CAD. She refreshed her knowledge of HTML and CSS and learned how to use Github after initially finding it daunting.