Animated GIF!

Reflections from the Marble Wall Project

1. Modularity Beats All

We had hoped that people would build around the teeter totter & the marble wheel p

ieces, but we quickly learned that these w

ere not often used. Because of

the connection to the power source, they were difficult to move around compared to the simple tracks and peg

s that were easy to grab and plug into the peg board. In the second round, we instead built multiple, simple and modular pieces — just like the tracks — so that the users can move them around more easily. Even a somewhat complex element such as the pachinko p

iece was used quite often.

2. Unexpected Uses

I was caught off-guard when a lady and her son constructed a marble-reverser out of the water wheel piece I made — something I did not expect. This sparked me to realize the importance of keeping the pieces at a certain level of abstraction. Compare this to the motorized marble wheel, with clear in&out points, the water wheel is much more "undetermined" on how it should be used. If only

we had known this in the beginning...

3. Depth Precision

The teeter totter and the marble wheel pieces taught us that the elements should not be too far off the wall. That was not enough. It did not struck us until the end that depth precision, how far a piece comes off the wall, is quite important. This should be constant across all pieces, as most failures spark from the pieces being misaligned.

4. Clear Tubes Clearly Win

It is worth noted here that clear tubes are far more superior compared to opaque ones (including plastic and copper pipes). Seein

g the balls move through the clear tube is just plain satisfying.

5. Distance Between Stanford / Exploratorium + Busy Quarter

This entire project could have been done in less than a week had I based at the Exploratorium. Traveling up to the Exploratorium was quite an effort. Add an extra busy school schedule on top of that and we have a project that doesn't quite move as quickly as I had hoped. Maybe I can camp out in the tactile dome next time...

New Marble Wall Elements - 05/14/2010

Marble Wall Elements

FlipFlop Element

Sketches - smaller, modular, movable

Marble Machines on Display

Any feedback/comment/reports on issues is very much appreciated!

- Purin

Prototypes

Teeter Totter Prototype 3

Upward Elevator Prototype

Latest Prototypes

Teeter Totter Prototype 2

Issues:

1. Connection between the two bars -- currently duct tape. Tried fabric but that didn't work out so well.

2. Slow motor still a bit out of sync, even with the power adapters of the same brand.

3. Too fragile?

Upward Elevator Rough Prototype

Issues:

1. Getting the butterfly binder to pick up the marble

2. The fabric tends to go off-track

3. Looks a little flimsy?

Bonus: Magnet Gate

Inspiration

Marble Machine Pump

http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/marbles/machine1.html

http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/marbles/machine2.html

At 6-feet tall, the amazing Marble Machine 3 "is powered only by potential energy, a little kinetic energy and gravity. there are no motors, batteries or cranks."

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/amazing-6-foot-tall-marble-machine-never-stops

more elevator prototyping - Reducing friction

Too much friction keeps this one from working reliably


Using a basket to make a simple elevator, trying to make the marble leave the basket by tilting it.



Making a very light elevator for one marble. The weight of the marble triggers the elevator more reliably.

Lighter material take I.


Lighter material Take II.

Teeter Totter Prototype 1

Not too keen how the mechanism will carry on to higher fidelity prototype; the two slow motors become unsynchronized over time.

Downward Elevator Prototype 1

Running into weight/balance/friction issues here:

1. The marble isn't heavy enough to push the elevator downward.

2. The elevator doesn't reset itself as expected.

Flower cup variation

This is inspired by your flower cup sketch and a marble machine Adam Tobin made.


Doesn't always reset, but often. i think I just have to add more counterweight.

Thoughts on marble clean-up

From Karen
Figuring out an element that collects marbles as a "finale" of sorts would be a super useful. I'm sure you can imagine what it's like to have hundreds of marbles that are being used by visitors. Maybe offering a playful incentive for people to do something with stray marbles. It kind of reminds me of those trash cans that do something to encourage you to throw things in the bin.

Gravity Well

Hey, I used a small gravity well on the marble wall inspired by one of your sketches. That was perhaps the easiest of the 16+ ideas you came up with :). Works well...

The marble of choice

Hey Purin, we are going to use a 5/8" cat's eye marble. Adam uses them in his marble machines, too. Should be easier to build the mechanisms knowing that we have one standard size.

If you want to make something that requires a special size or weight, that's ok too, as long as it's easy to tell them apart from the 5/8" marble.

Sketches

Here's what I've come up with so far...

Marble Machines workshop

Here are photos and video of the marble machine workshops we have done
http://www.exploratorium.edu/pie/library/marblemachines.html

Marble Music

From Karen
I just watched a film about the Eames' 901 studio and glimpsed a clever idea that we might want to try with marble machines.
Imagine a tower of xylophone parts that you could remove and rearrange to play tunes. Theirs was very tall and had an elaborate pneumatic launch, but I think it would be simpler and cooler for our purposes to have the marbles fall into the "tower" from things that visitors construct with tracks.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/the_gravity-powered_xylophones_of_c.html

From Jessica
That sounds interesting! Your description reminds me of a very cool toy I saw once:

http://museumofhappiness.blogspot.com/2008/06/marble-tree-toy.html