GO-GO AirBoat by macakcat

Last crawled date: 2 years, 11 months ago

GO-GO AirBoat is a physics concepts and electronics learning kit.
GO-GO AirBoat is a payload-sensing, motorized, propeller airboat.
When GO-GO AirBoat reaches full capacity, watch the motor rev to life, spinning the propeller, and watch GO-GO go! How many pennies can you load before GO-GO goes? Will it sink or will it float? Load your lifesavings aboard, and wave "Bon voyage!" to your GO-GO AirBoat!
Load your cargo containers with up to 20 pennies each (US cent tested). The cargo containers are infinitely stackable! GO-GO's cargo bay area can support up to 5 columns of cargo containers. Many combinations of load and weight distribution possible. Experiment!
Provided instructions include derivation of the "Maximum Number of Pennies" equation to stay afloat with your chosen cargo configuration.
Simple to print! There are only four STL files needed to construct your GO-GO AirBoat and cargo containers so it's easy to do.
GO-GO AirBoat senses when to embark on its long haul across the sea when it is fully loaded to capacity with its valuable cargo. A floating piston inside the boat's smokestack is free to move with the water level and triggers the motor to drive when a certain depth is achieved. This sensor employs a simple infrared LED, phototransistor, and a Darlington pair transistor amplifier stage for switching of a small DC motor.
The depth-sensor trigger point can be mechanically altered using different, floating piston heights of your own creation.
Gain hands-on experience with resistors, capacitors, diodes, LED's, DC motors, bipolar junction transistors (BJT's), Darlington pair transistors, phototransistors as triggers, circuit board layout, and soldering.
The GO-GO AirBoat features a series of basic, discrete component, electronic constructions to help young engineers and future scientists better visualize electrical components, their wiring, and their roles in electronic circuits. The instructions provide step-by-step calculations and descriptions of how the individual circuits function together as a whole.
Use this model as an activity or introduction to subjects such as weight, mass, displacement, density, buoyancy, and center of gravity. Topics covered within the instructions focus on mass, density, and basic algebra. Logic and reasoning skills are exercised to translate calculated values to the real world.
Please click the Instructions tab for a guided walkthrough covering settings, tips, tricks, explanations, exercises, and prompts for further exploration.
Designed by David Choi