So I owe my friend a gift for his birthday. Years ago, I promised him I would build one of his zanier inventions: A hat that always points north. However, due to school, injury, and various setbacks / distractions, I never really built it. Then I ordered the parts but got the wrong magnetometer, and then the microcontroller I was going to use actually ended up being bricked. However, I persevered, and might actually get the thing done this time.
I had to take into consideration a couple things: The type of servo, the configuration upon the head, and how to best avoid the thing pulling hair out of the user’s scalp. I did a lot of my design work in the ‘Concepts’ app for the iPad pro. Great little tool. Very fun to work with.
Building the thing proved harder than expected. Mounting all the pieces on the motor was a little difficult, and testing the magnetometer sensor was hard until I built a janky prototype for some quicker testing.
I had a great time testing this one, and actually implemented my own PID control for the thing, so it behaves quite accurately and doesn’t overshoot like it did at the beginning of the process. Perhaps PID is a little overkill, but honestly this gu deserves the best we engineers have to offer.
I still have to solder in a few switches and complete the enclosure, but it’s done for the most part! Look out, world. Perhaps you’ll see it on Shark Tank sometime soon lol
