A simple mouse made with fun fur and an empty film canister. I made this mouse for the May workshop here at the Science Museum. The mouse was pretty simple to construct -- just some fun fur, an empty film canister, and a gear connected right to the motor -- the hard part was making it move convincingly. I wanted it to twitch, but just using the MOTOR_ONFOR block turned the motor on for too long. So my friend Natalie suggested I try programming it using the text language. So I made two blocks.

I made a very simple mechanism for a drawing machine. It only makes one motion -- but, like the back and forth machine, if it does it many many times, it makes an interesting drawing. I tried it both with pencils and with markers: Four drawings made with the same machine. Click on the image to see the drawings a little larger. I like the wing-like shape it makes. Image of the machine coming soon.

This machine responds to the level of the sunlight on our (very bright) porch. The machine is made with a 2-sided screen (shaped like a roof), with a motor that hits the screen with some weights attached to a dowel. If it is really really really bright, it hits the side of the "roof" coated with blue paint; if it is not too bright, it hits the yellow side. Here's the machine: The mechanism of the summer sun painter.