Project Update: Opportunity Mars Rover

It’s been a while since I posted an update on my WoodMarvels.com Opportunity Mars Rover project so now is a good time. After several days of computer problems over the past few days, here is an updated screen shot of this upcoming model.

This wooden Mars Rover still requires an incredible amount of work, but it's coming along very nicely! I figure I'm about 60% finished at this point.

Why design a Wooden Mars Rover in the first place?

I began this project to both challenge myself mentally as to what was truly possible using only 2D plywood pieces and, most importantly, to learn more about engineering. I have no formal training in anything I do, from 3D, to video production, sound and even publishing… I’m 100% self-taught! The advantage to this is that I have never followed a step-by-step instructions book on how to make things happen. I just keep working until I got what I’m after, sometimes this is very efficient, other times watching grass grow seems like a profitable hobby to take up but the journey towards getting there is what I enjoy the most. My classroom has always been learning by doing.

So what have I learned so far?

A tremendous amount! So far, here are some things I’ve learned which I believe will help me design even cooler projects in the future for .

• Hinges and pivots of all kinds; turning a wooden assembly 90 degrees vertically and horizontally was an interesting challenge.
• Developing efficient support mechanisms; the solar panels that make the top of the model look so flush hide a lot of complexity to keep everything in place, intuitive to build and strong.
• Simplifying complicated assemblies; the floor of the “box” that contains most of Opportunity’s power supplies and electronics use to be made of over 5 parts, after some work, I got that down to only one! Why create more parts than are really needed, they just increase complexity and build time… not to mention cutting costs.
• Using other, simple to find materials to augment a model; adding tin foil and other easy to find materials to a model really make a striking difference to the finished piece.
• The design process, though very challenging at times, is also incredibly fun! This wooden WoodMarvels.com Mars Rover, once finished, will probably take about two weeks to render (animation wise) and at least a few days of EPS optimizing and PDF blueprint file creation… lots of work but it makes other projects that much easier to envision.

Goal

Though I have no firm deadline to meet, I’d like to get this project finished and available at WoodMarvels.com by the end of the month. The major unknown at this point is the rendering of the animation… don’t be fooled, there is A LOT of parts that make this model possible so I plan on reviewing it again to see where I can get rid of some redundancies.

The Bottom Line

I started WoodMarvels.com because I wanted to design fun things, so far I’ve achieved this in spades.