Following the previous week’s thoughts, for this prototype I tried to incorporate some type of resistance in between each of the vertebrae. For my initial pass I tried a combination of springs and various foams.

However, based on the results the wires were getting “stuck” and the shape was not returning back to it’s stationary position. In consultation with Paul, we decided to move forward with the foam material, but to drill channels into them for the wires to go through. The results are indicated below.

Summary

The foam material seems to work perfectly, I also like that the channels hide the wires. A servo base will need to be constructed for the bottom “vertebrae”, but this will be attempted farther along when more med-high fidelity prototypes are called for. Since this prototype still doesn’t afford the freedom of movement of “twisting” the spine, this movement will be my next big pursuit along with the idea of spinal fins that move independent of each other. This will be further explored next week.