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Week 1 : Principles and Practices,Project Management Week 2 : Computer-Aided Design Week 3 : Computer-Controlled Cutting Week 4 : Electronics Production Week 5 : 3D Scanning and Printing Week 6 : Electronics Design Week 7 : Computer-Controlled Machining Week 8 : Embedded Programming Week 9 : Molding and Casting Week 10 : Input Device Week 11 : Output Device Week 12 : Interface and application programming Week 13 : Networking and communications Week 14 : Mechanical Design Week 15 : Machine Design Week 16 : Wildcard Week 17 : Applications and Implications Week 18 : Invention, Intellectual Property and Business
Project Development Hardware Software Electronics

Final Project

FAN , wind turbine for kids




For my final project I realised a children game. This Idea was born whit a collaboration between me and EURO INFORMATICA,a company that deals whit sustainability and waste recycling here in Italy.
The main purpose is to sensitize kids to production of clean energy.
Two group of kids will have to choose between a selection of many different shapes of blades and assembly them to find the best setup.Not every blade is designed to be efficient and it's also important the orientation.
Once each gruop have build their own turbine they can play using an artificial source of wind.
The turbine won't produce energy however the electronics inside counts the RPM and based on this values a different pattern of lights is shown inside the house.
Pattern and brightness change based on how fast the blades spin: from soft colors and low brightness, to strong colors and high brightness.
That should be immediate and comprehensible output for children.

Project plan evaluation



  • what tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?


    • The electronics board are ready.I made them for Output Device and Networking and communications.
    The Design of the turbines and the house is almost finished and I can start print and make some test.I'll put here the documentation of the designing process.
    Once everything will be ready I'll have to manage the packaging to avoid messy cables.
    I'm on time whit the schedule I wrote here.
    Improvements to make will be color the turbines with some kids friendly colors,make other shapes of blades. However the improvements that can be made are countless,once i'll finish the accademy I'll talk whit EURO INFORMATICA to decide how to proceed in the future.

  • What is the deadline? How much time do I have left?


    • I'll present the final project the 15th of June,so I want to finish the project the 13th of June to have the entire 14th to make some adjustments and prepare the video and the slide.I have left 8 days,I should make it.

  • How will I complete the remaining tasks in time?


    • The schedule I have is (as I wrote here) :

  • 30/05/2018 --- 07/06/2018 Design the turbines and the house
  • 07/06/2018 --- 07/06/2018 Tests for 3d printer and laser cutter
  • 08/06/2018 --- 11/06/2018 3d printing of the blades and lasercut the house
  • 12/06/2018 --- 13/06/2018 Test the 3d printed parts whit the electronic boards
  • 14/06/2018 --- 14/06/2018 Finishing,video and slide
  • 15/06/2018 Presentation of the project


    • There is time to complete the project,all I have to do is to stay focused and don't waste it,hoping that the 3d printing process won't give much problems ad happened for 3D Scanning and Printing

  • What questions need to be resolved?


    • It will be fun? The main challenge for this project is to make kids to have fun.

  • What has worked?What hasn't?


    • The major problem I had for this final project was about the serial comunication and the bluetooth but I already solved in theNetworking week.It took me some times learning the coding techniques to controll the neopixel but it wasn't hard.I understimated the design of the house,If i could go back in time I would reserve more time for this task.

  • What have you learned?


    • I'm studyind computer engineering at the University of Siena but I never ever faced something like an arduino,an input device or everythig I learned to use in this last 6 months.I was sick of studying pages and pages of notes of theorical stuff whitout seeing nothing work in the real life.I'll be honest,I could do much more but doing fabAcademy and the University (whitout leaving the planned exams behind) at the same time wasn't easy.However this is one of the best choice I made since my last 4 years.Thanks to the fabAcademy I rediscovered how much technology is fascinating.
    So What do I learned?
    Everything done in this academy was new to me.
    I planned to master the fabskills by challenging myself whit a lot of projects that I always saw like not feasible until now.





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