INDN 252: Advanced Designs

So, after creating the first, preliminary form, I went into Solidworks and starting to abstract the concept of the design. One of the things that kind of stuck with me since the dissection is the fact that the different bones in the knee don't actually interlock at all, unlike mechanical joints. The joint is actually only held together by the tendons that literally strap the joint together.

So, the form that I decided to experiment with is a form that uses an incomplete ball and socket joint, allowing for excellent control, while still maintaining a certain sense of disconnect and the ability to pull the bones apart.

The first form I experimented with is this one, which explores the double orb form that would fit into a double socket joint for joint to work. The reason why it has a double orb form is because the joint needs to not move in more than one axis. This will ensure that it won't wobble in any other way when it's connected.

That form I then refined into this form, which incorporates a sort of "rail" into the base, so that the knee cap can roll around the bone. Another element that I've incorporated is a cylinder that decreases in radius as it goes around the edge. This will mean that as the knee cap rolls around the joint, it will move into the joint a bit, re-creating the similar element of the real knee joint.

This is the bottom half of the joint, which I kept in a similar style to the top half. It provides the cupping action, and will be secured with tendons to the top joint. I wanted to have minimal material here, as it will be the point doing most of the movement. For now I haven't added any points of connection for the knee cap, since this is just a rough model, so I'll just being gluing the tendons to the "bones".

This knee cap is just a small exploration of how the piece could move across the joint. I want the knee cap to be one of the main features of the joint, so making it a bit larger may be important for the final model. It doesn't quite stand out enough for now, but that's what development is for.

To experiment with how assemblies work, I decided to put my piece together and see how it could turn out looking like a whole piece. It definitely still needs a lot of work. I applied different metal materials just so that the different pieces were clear enough to differentiate. The tendons are obviously missing, but I haven't thought of the best way of putting those into my Solidworks models yet.

Onwards and upwards!