The whale sponge (QUASS)

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

**Update:

8-23-2015

I printed out a prototype and it works well. I made some minor modifications to the clips so they clip in more smoothly, I've uploaded the revised files. Here's a video of the prototype, check it out:

https://youtu.be/8kalDv0DraQ



So you’re probably wondering how the hell I thought of this, well I was surfing kickstarter one day and came across this link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snotbot/snotbot-pushing-the-frontiers-of-whale-research-wi


https://www.whale.org/tag/snotbot/


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/snotbot-drone-aids-in-whale-research_55b12a0ee4b08f57d5d3ef15

I first thought to myself, what am I seeing, but my bewilderment turned into a the realization that a better device than what the scientists were currently using, could be made. I noticed that the scientists were using sponges just tied with elastics to the side of the quadcopters, it didn’t look very professional or efficient, I then immediately thought about the Fathom challenge and thought this would be a perfect idea as it falls into the category of monitoring or tracking animals.

Obviously, using quadcopters to collect whale snot is a technology in its infancy, so even more so, it could benefit from some upgraded 3DPcentric technology.

So my design is very simple, the key feature is that it is simple to use, lightweight, aesthetically and clinically more clean than their current solution, detachable and doubles as landing gear for craft. It only consists of two different parts, with five parts to complete the kit.
There is a center mounted “plate” with female clip style receptacles. The other part consists of a boom and a corresponding male clip which is simple clipped into the base plate, there are four booms in total to provide symmetry and balance to the quad which is very important for the stability of the craft. The plate with all the female plates is quite 3DPcentric, meaning it is a good candidate for 3D printing vs. other manufacturing methods. It would be very difficult to mold using injection molding.

I had mulled around with a few other ideas that were small and could potentially be clipped on and off easily so I just decided to call this “clip” system, the QUASS: Quick Attachment Support System.

The plan is to have a variety of different accessories that use this belt buckle style clip.

So here’s the deal, I usually like to print prototypes to test out some of my designs. But I’ve been printing quite a bit lately and I’m running low on plastic. Fathom, it would be great if you could print this out and test the clip mechanism for me and let me know if it needs adjustment.

I was able to print a basic prototype on my FDM printer that worked, but I altered some things for the final design etc. so I’m wondering if this one will work.

I designed it around a pool noodle, so anything that has roughly a ¾” through hole should slip onto the booms but a slit can always be cut into the sponge to help it fit.In reality I don't really know what they use as a sponge but I've seen "pool noodle", round sponges in some of the pictures on the web.Let me know what you guys think. Likes and comments are welcomed.

Jon-