Little Box Description

Marie Sester PROJECTS Statement Résumé Contact <<  Back to the Little Box Blog Little Box is an elegant responsive box using sensors, robotics, light and sound to express peace and harmony. Through its interactivity, it seamlessly teaches us to calm down. When an individual enters the detection zone the lid slowly opens automatically. Light glows … Read more

Little Box : Tray

Marie Sester PROJECTS Statement Résumé Contact << Back to the Little Box blog The tray is an important element to the box. It needs to be elevated and flush with the top of the box and also allow the actuators to pass through, lifting the lid. To bring the tray up making it flush with … Read more

Little Box : Sound

Marie Sester PROJECTS Statement Résumé Contact << Back to the Little Box blog We attached speakers to the underside of the box for the sound to emanate from.  Merche Blasco is creating the sound for the piece.  Two speakers that are small enough to fit under the box have been attached and connected to an … Read more

Little Box : Sensing

Marie Sester PROJECTS Statement Résumé Contact << Back to the Little Box blog We are using four of the Maxbotic EZ-1 Sonar sensors, which turned out to not be so “easy” when using more than one sensor. The sensors send out a sonar which bounces off an object allowing a distance calculation to be returned. … Read more

Little Box : Metal Legs

<< Back to the Little Box blog To make the sensor looks as intentional as possible we discussed placing the sensors underneath the box, rather than drilling a hole into the box.  To place the sensors underneath the box we needed to create legs which would elevate the box up high enough for our sensors … Read more

Little Box : LED Wiring

<< Back to the Little Box blog We are working with the LED Strip lights which come 60/meter and were purchased from Adafruit. These LEDs are Non-Addressable but can be cut every 3 LEDs. We purchase 15 meters and used them throughout the box. Although the LEDs can be cut every 3, the provided soldering … Read more

Little Box : Actuator Housing

<< Back to the Little Box blog To house the actuators within the box we knew we needed to create a cage that would secure the actuators in place without vibration and also allow the actuators to be removable in case, for some reason, they broke. We came up with a “cage” that would be … Read more

Little Box : Hinge

<< Back to the Little Box blog We purchased a stainless steel hinge from McMaster-Carr and installed it on the box after receiving the corrected tray. We chose not to get the hinge with premade holes as we will decide where the holes and bolts should be when we position the hinge. The hinge can … Read more

Little Box : Corian Box Received

<< Back to the Little Box blog We received the box back from Corian today. Although the exterior looked beautiful, we immediately realized that the inner tray was made entirely out of the non-illumination series. We specified the bottom of the inner tray to made out of the illumination series. We also noticed a large … Read more

Little Box : Linear Actuator Test

[margin]<< Back to the Little Box blog After exploring many different methods for lifting the box lid, we decided that using linear actuators will be the best way to move forward. We avoided this option earlier because the actuators are more expensive than gears and motors, but they will be more quiet and better integrated … Read more

Little Box : Corian Technical Drawings

<< Back to the Little Box blog Below are drawings that were submitted to the Corian Fabrication house, Evans & Paul.  We had the box fabricated in house at Corian because the material is difficult to work with.  It can not be laser cut with most lasers because it tends to bend and melt before … Read more

Little Box : Open/Close Animation

<< Back to the Little Box blog The first prototype for Little Box project was building a system that can open a box seamlessly. This is a main step for the box and most of the next steps will be shaped according to our solution for this problem. We needed to make this system seamless, … Read more

Little Box : Mechanics Development

<< Back to the Little Box blog After testing out the bevel gears, we realized that we could not get the pivot point of the lid close enough to the back of the box. If we wanted to integrate the rod into the back of the box, we would need to create a false compartment … Read more