Name: Ke Tuong Thai (Ricky)

Professor: Kathryn Schulte Grahame

Date: 4/17/2020
Milestone 7
Task and User:
In the outbreak of the Coronavirus, people always want to minimize their physical
touches to reduce the risk of spread or get infected by the virus. Especially for those who spent
their whole day working outside and come home. At home, the light switch is something that
every people must touch whenever they come back home. The task that I am aiming to achieve is
to minimize the touch of people with the light switches but still effectively turn on all the light in
their homes with the lowest cost. The single action that I am aiming to is dropping a car or a
house’s key to the basket. The users can be anybody; but, the most popular users should be busy
adults, those who have a lot of work outside their home, especially people who have a big family
with sensitive members such as kids and elderly people.
Foundation:
Some of the solutions that currently exist are using the heat sensor, motion sensor, and
light sensor. Motion sensors and heat sensors are the two more popular choices. According to
The Christian Science Monitor, a regular motion sensor usually cost around 25 USD on Amazon
[1]. However, one of the big disadvantages is that it requires motion to turn the light one. As a
result, it is more suitable to put it outside of a house than to set it inside. On the other hand, a
heat sensor is a really popular option for bigger buildings and more convenient because as long
as there is a person in the detectable zone, the light will stay on. Its cost is also more expensive
having a range between 30-100 USD [2]. Beside economically inefficient, according to Early
Expert, the temperature sensor works poorly if the temperature is too high [3]. Consequently, the
light sensor becomes the best option because when there is light, all the light will stay be on and
we can turn off whenever we want. Economically, 10 pieces of LDR cost only 6 USD [4].
Because the light sensor is not a popular choice in the market, it makes my design more unique,
and it would be even more stand out with the combination with the Rude Goldberg Machine.
Another reason that makes my design more unique is the fact that it will be designed to improve
the safety of the people during the virus outbreak. According to Worldometer, there are more
than 123000 cases of confirmed cases around the United State [5]. Consumers are panic which
created the “Panic buying” situation, where there is a huge shortage of toilet paper, hand
sanitizer, and a lot of food supplies [6].
About having a successful Rude Goldberg Machine, it must be entertaining [7]. The
machine must be entertaining when the user interacts with it. Furthermore, it must be a chain of
action [8]. As it is the key to make a Rude Goldberg machine looks like its name. One of the
very important aspects that make a successful Rude Goldberg machine is the perfect timing. The
time must be efficient between different components of the machine; it should not be too short or
too long because it will take away the excitement of the audiences [9]. Lastly, the materials
should be effective. It should not be too expensive, and it will be best if that is sustainable [10].

Initial idea and design:

My idea starts with my hobbies of turning on lights. I don’t like darkness except when I
go to bed. So, I always turn on all the lights in my room so that it can be as bright as possible.
However, even though it is not a long process, there are still works to do. Also, these days with
the outbreak of the virus, I must constantly sanitize my hand before touching any switches which
were inconvenient. That is when I come up with an idea for my project. What if by turning on
the table lamp, I can turn on all the lights in my room using the light sensor from the Sparkfun
kit? It will save me a lot of works and time. To make my project look more interactive and fun, I
was also inspired by the dominos Rube Goldberg Machine from figure 1, and I decided to
cooperate some dominoes into my project with a ping pong ball.

Figure 1: Domino Rube Goldberg Machine

 Figure 2: The first sketch

After having a meeting with my mentor, I made some small changes in my design so that
the machine can run smoothly and improve the safety of the user in the outbreak of the virus. She
suggested me doing a more practical machine that the user does not necessarily throw the ping
pong ball but it could be throwing their key or hanging their key. I feel like throwing their key is
a good option so I added a basket and a piece of cardboard under the cup which later will play a
role as a lever; the mass of the key will tilt the cup, and the ping pong ball in the cup will roll
down to the incline similar to figure 1. She also reminds me of the third Sparkfun component, so
I also added the LCD screen for my machine.
 Figure 3: Second sketch
Problem Statement:
There are a lot of light switches in my house, and they are in different locations. To turn
all the lights on at once would be impossible. Given the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, it
will improve convenience and safety if my family could come home after a long. The goal of this
project is to design a Rube Goldberg Machine that turns on all the lights with the least
effort as possible but is also interesting and fun to play with.
Flowchart:

Figure 4: Flow chart

Budget:
Bill of materials (actual)
Item Qty. Unit Price Cost
Sparkfun screen 1 $ - $ -
LDR 1 $0.60 $0.60
Plastic/paper cup 3 $ - $ -
Jumper wires 50 $ - $ -
Red Board 2 $ - $ -
ping pong ball 1 pack of 12 $6 $6
Domino 2 $15 $30

Hand sanitizer 1 $5 $5
Desk lamp 1 $18 $18
String 1 (roll) $6 $6
Cardboard 2 $ - $ -
Shoes box 3 $ - $ -
A chair 1 $ - $ -
Tape 1 $1 $1
Key 1 $ - $ -
Basket 1 $ - $ -
Books 20 $ - $ -
$66.60
Ordered
Table 1: budget
 Referring to the budget table, there will be a lot of items that I need to purchase
additionally to complete my machine. Firstly, to start the machine, I will need a key, a key
racket, a piece of cardboard, a plastic cup, and ping pong to start the machine (as in figure 1).
Then, I need another piece of cardboard for the incline, and I also need to buy a pack of domino
which will be used as one of the entertained components of the machine; when all the dominos
fall, the last piece will play a very significant role which it will trigger the switch of the desk
lamp. The bottle of hand sanitizer will add more mass for the domino so that it will be easier to
trigger the switch, while the string will be used to connect these components. For the Sparkfun
Kit, I will use the redboard, LDR, LED, and LCD.
Wire diagram:

Figure 4: Wire diagram

Description of final project:
In the final version, there are some changes in the components that I used. I still keep the
idea of dropping the key into the basket as I describe in the previous section. However, the
design of the incline in figure 5 is more complicated compared to the flat cardboard that I
planned to use because I think it is really important to guide the ping pong ball rolling pattern.
Furthermore, in terms of entertainment, I tried to use more dominos and try to create a more
complicated pattern for the domino similar to Figures 6 and 7. For my convenience, I used the
shoeboxes and books to create the base and the stair for the dominos. Thirdly, I replaced the
weight with a bottle of hand sanitizer. Since my topic is related to the COVID-19, I think the
bottle will be more symbolistic to display (figure 6). Lastly, in figure 8, I did not make any
changes to the Sparkfun components that I decided to use in the final version. When the light is
on, the LCD will display “machine: on”, and otherwise, the LCD will display “machine: off” and
the LED is off.
 Figure 5: the cup, the basket, and the incline.

Figure 6: The domino’s pattern, the hand sanitizer, the lamp, and the Sparkfun components.
 Figure 7: the domino’s stair

Figure 8: the closer look at the Sparkfun components

Reflection:
The performance of the machine was really successful. When I dropped the key into the
basket, it was able to start the whole machine seamlessly. More importantly, at the end, it was able
to trigger the lamp’s switch to turn the light on. In the future, if I have some opportunity to develop
my machine, I will try to improve its appearance and potentially, add more complicated
components such as more intense domino’s pattern, add sound, etc.
After this project, I learned a lot about the engineering process and how important to not
miss any step of it. Since every single step is a really important preparation for the next step until
I finish my product.
Gantt chart:

Figure 5: gantt chart

Bibliography:
[1] "The Christian Science Monitor," 26 4 2010. [Online]. Available:
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Simple-Dollar/2010/0426/Do-motion-
activatedlight-switches-save-money. [Accessed 27 03 2020].
[2] "FIXR," [Online]. Available: https://www.fixr.com/costs/outdoor-motion-sensor-
lightsinstallation. [Accessed 27 03 2020].
[3] Marianne, "Early Experts," [Online]. Available: https://earlyexperts.net/best-motionsensor-
lights-reviewed/. [Accessed 27 03 2020].
[4] "Amazon," Amazon, [Online]. Available: https://www.amazon.com/10pcs-
DependentResistor-Photoresistor-GL5528/dp/B00XDT8KI4. [Accessed 26 03 2020].
[5] "Wolrdometer," 28 3 2020. [Online]. Available:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. [Accessed 28 3 2020].
[6] F. Southey, "Panic Buying," FoodNavigator, 27 03 2020. [Online]. Available:
https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/03/27/Panic-buying-amid-coronavirus-
fearsHow-much-are-we-spending-and-why-is-it-a-problem. [Accessed 28 3 2020].
[7] W. Nicol, "The best Rube Goldberg machines," Digital Trends, 16 4 2019. [Online].
Available: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/best-rube-goldberg-machines/.
[Accessed 28 3 2020].
[8] C. Swartz, "How to Make a Rube Goldberg Machine," Boys' Life, [Online]. Available:
https://boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/projects/159359/how-to-make-a-rube-
goldbergmachine/. [Accessed 2020].
[9] J. Brownlee, "6 Tips For Designing An Awesome Rube Goldberg Machine," Fast COmpany,
[Online]. Available: https://www.fastcompany.com/3050443/6-tips-fordesigning-an-
awesome-rube-goldberg-machine. [Accessed 29 3 2020].
[10] B. Werrell, "Build Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine," Connection Academy, [Online].
Available: https://www.connectionsacademy.com/support/resources/article/build-
yourown-rube-goldberg-machine. [Accessed 28 3 2020].