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By: Honbete Jaewon Lee, Aron Aguilera
Course: IAT 106 Spatial Thinking and Communicating

Description: Designed for IAT 106's ABM Final Project, this mechanical creature was designed to emulate the fluid and natural movements of sea creatures, primarily the stingray, using everyday materials and a hand crank system.

Making use of a 4-bar linkage, alongside a series of custom designed a-frame "ribs" offset by a given angle, as the hand crank at the front of the "head" is rotated, the fins rise and extrude in cascading order. This not only creates a ripple or wave-like motion through the fins, but is reflective of the way stingrays move through water.

This is achieved through a series of dowels that connect between each end of the ribs, that allow for the fins to rotate freely on the given axis. The weight of the fins keep them directed towards the ground, creating a natural curve and slant that ties the fins to the outer housing of the model while still being able to showcase the spiraling spine.

In addition, a series of spikes that run along the spine piston in a similar wave pattern, and a tail that sways back and forth were implemented to try and create as many unique variations in movement as possible, all through a simple turning of a crank.