Dinosaur Head Automata - Nathan Nguyen

Introduction

For my final project, I decided to build a 7-bar extender mechanism that models the movement of a dinosaur head. The bottom four links on the base of the extender represent the neck of the dinosaur, with the two end links making up the top and bottom pieces of the jaw. The mechanism works by turning a crank which contracts or lengthens the extender. While the crank turns, the entire neck also rocks back and forth. The goal of my project was to model the position of the dinosaur head, then calculate the bite force based on the angular velocity of the crank. The mechanism was created using school supplies “borrowed” from my roommate who is an Education major. (shoutout my @roomie)

Motivation

I came across the idea for this device from a YouTube video that included 28 other miniature easy-to-build automata. I chose the dinosaur head, specifically, because my little cousin loves dinosaurs. I am planning on giving him my mechanism after this project. The dinosaur is pretty fragile though, so I don’t expect it to survive longer than 5 minutes in the hands of a 5-year-old. 

Youtube link to inspiration: https://youtu.be/-OJ1Yc2SwAs?t=126