Project Overview
For a class at Northeastern called cornerstone of engineering I was tasked with creating an educational transportable museum exhibit. The exhibit had to be affordable (>$100), easy to assemble (30 minutes maximum) and sit on a 36″ wide by 28″ deep tabletop. The final product had to provide an interactive way to teach young students about green chemistry. My team and I created a prototype that promotes interactive learning of green chemistry through a creative game system. Users are able to create their own Minecraft versions of chemical equations, with the goal of creating paper with the least amount of waste. They are able to produce a different amount of waste based on the reactants they choose to place into the table. After completing our game, kids left with a deeper understanding of chemistry and sustainability. Once the exhibit was complete, my team and I presented it to museum guests at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA.
Green chemistry is the study and focus of reducing the waste of chemical reactions. This topic is very relevant today as there is a global crisis about the
amount of materials we use every day and the waste created by chemical processes. Green chemistry has 12 principles but the main principle that is relevant to this exhibit is atom economy. Atom economy is the process of preventing waste on a molecular level.
Design Overview
Users are able to create or “craft” paper by placing different pieces into the wooden frame or “crafting table.” The game pieces and crafting table were created using AutoCad and a laser cutter. Each piece has a resistor on the inside that is soldered to metal washers on the bottom of the piece. The resistors vary in resistance and are used to tell the difference between each piece when placed into the crafting table. The crafting table consists of a 3×3 array of places to put your pieces. All of these places have two metal washers on the bottom to facilitate an electrical connection to the game pieces when placed into the table, which is shown below.
Each place on the crafting table has two wires soldered to it that lead to a breadboard. There are three breadboards used with voltage dividers wired to them. These voltage dividers are used to determine the difference between each game piece by returning a specific voltage to the Arduino. There are three Arduinos, which are all connected to a single computer. The Arduinos send voltage readings to the computer which compares those values to set ones to determine what game pieces are placed. A button is also connected to an Arduino, which allows the user to transition to the next step of the game after they place their pieces, which is evaluating what they created and how much waste. Matlab and Arduino code is used to control the game. It controls what screens are displayed and the progression of the game. The game ends once the user has created paper with no waste as a byproduct.
Photo Log
