Mechanical Rhythm

Exhibition dimensions: 4000mm × 4100mm × 1800mm.

Composition: Exhibitions consist of 10 modules: Joker unicycle, stair lift spiral descent mechanism, robotic arm, multi link lift mechanism, rotating robotic arm, giant wheel, binary, gear lift mechanism, color separation mechanism, and flipping chain. The specifications, operation methods, and scientific principles of each module are as follows:

1. ★ Mechanical Rhythm - Clown Unicycle (Specification: 1400mm × 500mm × 1800mm)

Operation: Wait for the ball sent from the previous level to reach the lower right corner of the wheel; Turn the handwheel and send the ball to the next level.

Principle: How is the ball transported from the bottom right to the top left? Rotate the handle to drive the wheel. When the ball in the lower left track encounters a circular hole on the front of the wheel, it will roll into the hole and be carried away by the wheel. During the process of the ball entering the hole and being released, it will be blocked by a curved metal rod and will not fall off. Until the wheel carries the ball to the release port and the curved metal rod reaches its end, the ball smoothly falls onto the next track.

2. Mechanical Rhythm - Step Lift Spiral Descent Mechanism (Specification: 900mm × 500mm × 1500mm)

Operation: Observe the process of lifting the ball on the steps; Observe the state of the ball during its spiral descent.

Principle: How does a small ball move from low to high by climbing up a movable step? The key is the combination design of six cams below the six colored steps. When the first step on the left rises and the second step falls, bring the ball from the first step to the second step, repeat this process, and the ball will eventually reach the highest step. The shaft hole of the cam is not at the center of the circle, and six cams are threaded on the same drive shaft, but offset from each other by a certain angle. When the motor drives the shaft to rotate, each cam rotates according to its own "posture", which is equivalent to writing a sequential motion program for the upper steps, driving each step to perform a lifting and lowering motion cycle, and together, the ball is transported away.

3. Mechanical Rhythm - Robot Arm (Specification: 1200mm × 500mm × 1800mm)

Operation: Click on the touch screen to select the track for transporting the ball; Observe the robotic arm picking up the ball and accurately sending it into the designated track.

Principle: How are our instructions sent to the robotic arm? How does a robotic arm grasp a small ball and accurately position it? The instructions on the touch screen are sent wirelessly to a device called a programmable logic controller (PLC), which acts as the brain of a robotic arm, storing pre written programs that can drive the arm to grab, transport objects, or operate tools. Degree of freedom is an important parameter of a robotic arm, which has two degrees of freedom. To reach any point in space, it generally requires three degrees of freedom. To make complex movements, higher degrees of freedom are needed. Under the precise control of the program, the actions and efficiency that a robotic arm can achieve even with its eyes closed are beyond the reach of humans.

4. ★ Mechanical Rhythm - Multi link Lifting Mechanism (Specification: 1200mm × 500mm × 1500mm)

Operation: Let the ball enter the track; Rotate the handwheel to operate the multi link mechanism; Observe the process of the ball being lifted.

Principle: How is the linkage mechanism composed? What are the characteristics? Here, a multi link mechanism is used to convert the circular motion of our hand wheel into reciprocating linear motion, continuously lifting the ball and placing it on the next level track. Linkage mechanism is a type of mechanical mechanism that has various forms of motion and can achieve complex movements such as rotation, swing, and movement. However, in general, it can only approximate the given motion and is commonly used in low-speed situations.

5. ★ Mechanical Rhythm - Rotating Robot Arm (Specification: 900mm × 500mm × 1500mm)

Operation: Let the ball enter the track; Observe how the ball is transported from low to high by this constantly rotating robotic arm.

Principle: What are the characteristics of gear transmission? Gear transmission is the most widely used form of transmission in mechanical transmission. This mechanical device, which looks like a Transformers, is also used to grab small balls. It is composed entirely of the most common cylindrical gears, with five gears arranged vertically determining the height of the robotic arm and five gears arranged horizontally determining the distance for the robotic arm to transport small balls. This mechanism cleverly uses gear combinations to achieve overall rotation and achieve the purpose of transportation.

6. Mechanical Rhythm - Giant Wheel (Specification: 1400mm × 500mm × 1800mm)

Operation: Let the ball enter the track; Rotate the handwheel and observe how the motion mechanism transports the ball away;

Principle: How is the continuous rotation of the handwheel transmitted? How do giant gears rotate periodically? There are three types of transmission modes here: chain transmission, groove wheel transmission, and gear transmission. After the handwheel rotates, it drives the groove wheel through the sprocket and chain. The one-way intermittent mechanism composed of the groove wheel and the cylindrical pin turns continuous rotation into regular intermittent rotation. This regular intermittent rotation is then driven by a small gear to make the giant gear operate. Gear transmission is achieved by the mutual meshing of the driving gear teeth and the driven gear teeth. The small gear drives the large gear, and the rotational speed slows down; The large gear drives the small gear, increasing the rotational speed. Gear transmission is also divided into external gears and internal gears. The small gear in the showcase is the one that is "long" inside the large gear, called internal gear transmission.

7. Mechanical Rhythm - Binary (Specification: 1400mm × 500mm × 1600mm)

Operation: Rotate the handwheel to let the ball enter this specially designed binary track; Pay attention to the position where the black paddle swings and the ball falls.

Principle: Binary and decimal carry are different. By observing the conversion rules displayed on the dial, ball drop position, and digital display, think about how they are converted between them? The commonly used decimal system in daily life consists of 1-9 digits, where ten per cent equals one dime, which is what we often say when ten equals one. And binary only consists of two digits, 0 and 1. The carry rule is "every two to one". Taking addition as an example: 0+0=0, 0+1=1, 1+1=10. Because it only uses two digits, 0 and 1, it is suitable for representing only two types of state information. For example, the connection and disconnection of circuits, the presence and absence of light, etc. The computer we use operates in binary format.

8. Mechanical Rhythm - Gear Lifting Mechanism (Specification: 1200mm × 500mm × 1500mm)

Operation: Let the ball enter the track; Rotate the handwheel and observe how the ball is transported away in the track.

Principle: What mechanical transmission method can be used to transport the ball from low to high? As the handwheel rotates, the small ball on the lower right side falls into the teeth of the white gear and is lifted to a higher position under the constraint of the metal guide rail around the gear. When the ball reaches the highest point that the white gear can lift, it cleverly leaves the gear and rolls along the track to the blue gear on the higher left side, where it is lifted again by the blue gear in the same way, completing the two lifting processes of the ball. Here, the transmission between the white gear and the blue gear uses a synchronous belt, which is a type of toothed transmission belt that can mesh with the synchronous wheel. It has the advantages of high transmission accuracy, low noise, no need for lubrication, and can also achieve long-distance transmission, which is not easy to achieve with gear transmission.

9. Mechanical Rhythm Color Separation Mechanism (Specification: 1200mm × 500mm × 1500mm)

Operation: Observation mechanism composition: On the right side is the ball queuing device, in the middle is the color recognition device, and on the left side is the ball distribution device; Observe how the balls are queued, color recognized, and transported.

Principle: How are balls of different colors identified? How does the ball distribution device allocate small balls to the "dedicated lane"? How is it that the balls are queued up one by one and released every once in a while? The recognition of the color of the ball relies on a color sensor, which can be imagined as a set of "color cards" inside the "belly" of the sensing device. When encountering a ball that needs to be recognized, it will use its own "color card" to compare the same or similar colors, even if it is recognized. The color sensor actually does not recognize colors. It only compares colors carefully and quickly, releases a small ball immediately after successful recognition, and then tells the right side cross fork to rotate once before the following small balls can enter the recognition area in sequence.

10. Mechanical Rhythm - Flip Chain Mechanism (Specification: 1200mm × 500mm × 1800mm)

Operation: Observe the motion status and pattern of the flipping mechanism in the lower right corner; Rotate the handwheel and observe the process of the ball being lifted and transported to a high place by the chain.

Principle: How do two institutions work separately? How are the two institutions connected? Under the display window, a flipping mechanism is composed of a motor, a driving gear, and a transport platform. It converts the rotation in one direction from the gear into the reciprocating swing of the platform, cleverly sending the ball to the entrance of the chain mechanism. There are small forks on the chain at regular intervals, which can lift the ball and feed it into the next guide rail. Chain transmission is a common mechanical structure, and our bicycle is an example. The large sprocket is connected to the pedals and serves as the driving wheel; The small sprocket is connected to the wheel and is a driven wheel. Variable speed bicycles can be combined into multiple transmission ratios because they have multiple sets of driving and driven wheels.