Christmas Automata – Motion

Description and Materials

Description

Have you ever found yourself starring at Christmas shop windows?
The ones with polar bears and a moving Santa. This Christmas you can create your own unique Automata. If you follow this Advent Math’s Calendar you will be guided step by step with tips and tricks to build your crazy mechanism.

Materials

Cardboard
Chopstick / skewer / pencil
Scissors
Glue / stapler / tape
Paper and pencil

Instructions

Instructions

To design your automata and start building your structure make sure to check previous instruction here

https://www.mathsweek.ie/2023/christmas-automata/

Now that you are ready with your structure it’s time to create your first character.
Draw your figure on cardboard or you can also print a picture you’d like.

Then pick a skewer and stick your figure on it using glue or tape.

Make a little whole on one side of the box to let the figure skewer to go into the box.

Draw two little circles on your cardboard. Place one at the end of the skewer and stick it with tape. The skewer should be in the center.

Then take your chopstick and stick it into the second circle. Align the two to make the character rotate.

For inspiration have a look on the pictures and the video.
Making everything work properly can require a bit of trial and error and problem solving.
So, try and try again, until you are happy with it, remember your automata is unique!

Please, share your creations on twitter using the #adventSTEM
We are looking forward to seeing what you’ve created!

What’s behind? STEM tips

What’s behind? STEM tips

With your own automata you can see different mechanical components in action.
The chopstick you are using is a rotating shaft. Your two cardboard circles that make your figure rotate are called cams. One cam rotates with the shaft to which it is fixed. The second cam, the one stuck to the skewer, is called “cam follower”, its rotation depends on the first one. The cam follower then makes your character move. The type of motion depends on the shape and position of the cams.