Using Arduino, Unity3D and 3D printing, created a closed-loop Lego maritime simulation with a custom interface.
See a video of it in action!
Now that I’ve designed, manufactured, and programmed my very own steward platform, what can I do with it? Let’s find out!
The first thing I did was grab a program called “SimTools.” This allowed me to capture the acceleration and velocity data from a racing simulator called “Live for Speed.” I completely rewrote my Stewart Platform code to accept 6DOF values and translate them in real-time to drive each servo directly. It turned out really well, especially when I crashed!
*Once I had that working, it was time to create a game of my own, and this time I wanted to make my own peripheral! I saw this Lego boat and new what I had to do. I wanted to change this single-turbine boat into a custom peripheral with two turbines for both momentum and steering! Thus “Oh Buoy!” was born.
*The first thing I needed to do was design and 3D print the housing for the two hobby motors, to which I’d attached rotor blades. I also needed to create a base on which the Lego boat would sit that would then attach to the hexagonal slot in my stewart platform.
Once I ran some wires and Legoed everything together, I was ready to build the game. I replicated the boat and brought it into Unity. In order to get seemingly random wave action I created my own random noise function, using simplex noise techniques. This motion is more pronounced when the boat is not moving.
*Voila! Now we have a boat we can move purely with our breath!
I’ve had a lot of fun with my personal Stewart Platform. Next on the agenda, creating a military-style Mech simulation single-rider experience for this 2-ton-capacity Moog platform. Stay tuned for more!
