Hayden Cotgrove
Product Design Engineer
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Automatic Gift Wrapper

I led a team of four in a three month project to create an automatic gift wrapper. We iterated through several prototypes, before settling on the final design which only had one essential moving part. A standard size box would be inserted with the paper in the starting position, and a lead screw would push the box back and forth through a tunnel with slots cut into the sides to fold the paper. The motor is controlled using an Arduino, and each part of the main mechanism was designed in SolidWorks before being laser cut.

 
 

The Brief

“Each team must design, build and demonstrate at least one machine that effectively integrates machine elements, sensors and actuators and code to perform a specified function. Your machine must work, but it does not need to fulfil a real-world need. It can be playful, joyful, whimsical, devious, absurd.”

The Idea

The team decided to design and prototype an automatic gift wrapper, that would be capable of automatically wrapping a standard size gift box. A successful design was built, which only had one moving part related to the core wrapping function.

My Contribution

I volunteered to lead the project, so was heavily involved in all aspects of the design process. I came up with the mechanical design of the machine, iterating through the design of the tunnel and ultimately designing each piece using CAD in SolidWorks. I also helped with the programming of the Arduino board that was used to control motor driving the system.

 

Prototyping

Many prototypes were created, to ensure perfect functionality. The early ones were made from scrap wood and blue foam, and later laser cut MDF. For the laser cutting, I drew out each part precisely using SolidWorks before the file was sent to be cut.

 

Instructions

The graphics for the instructions on how to use the product. The user would only need to insert the box, press the start button, and apply the glue as the box is wrapped. I draw each picture using Illustrator, and each picture was part of an instructions page.