Before beginning with the 3D modelling, I spent this week thinking more about how the ears will be incorporated into the body. The previous design had the ears wrapped around and hot glued into a BBQ skewer, which was placed in a hole drilled into a block of wood.

For the next version, I modified the skewer so that the ear attached to a flat area, helping to create a more natural ear shape when attached. The ears are now attached by a screw through the skewer, much sturdier than the hot glue. The bottom of the skewer is also attached to a screw. The plan is to design a body that has a series of channels that I can slide the screw and attached ear into. This would allow for easy switching between ear prototypes, and ideally even allow for adjustment of the angle the ears at which the ears are attached to the body.

After finishing with the next version of the ears, I crafted a model of the body I hope to make next week out of clay. This new body narrows at one end, maintaining the general shape of my original model which I hope will be able to model both a large animal’s head and a small animal’s body. For next week, I will likely start working in Solidworks to create a body that I can test the ear attachments to. After that, I will try to incorporate the servos into the design of the body, which should bring the prototype close to completion.