Oliver

Oliver: The Explorer Octopus An aeroplane to an aviator is what a 3D printer is to a creative engineer. Aviators and creative engineers are curious by nature. It’s their curiosity that leads them to explore the new and scale new heights. Aeroplanes and 3D printers provide them with true freedom in all the three dimensions of space for their explorations and imaginations. Every layer of the built speaks for itself. As the layers add up, art and engineering coalesce without any compromises to give rise to Oliver, the explorer octopus. He embodies the spirit of imagination, exploration, discovery, freedom and a whole new perspective on frontiers. There is more to its classy appearance. I have worked out two different gear mechanisms for the motion of Oliver’s arms. In Oliver’s Mechanism A, the user needs to slide the knob, and in Oliver’s Mechanism B, rotate it. On sliding or rotating the knob, the gear system which is concealed elegantly within its head makes it come to life with its eight arms working together to propel itself – a jet propulsion mechanism that octopuses use for their locomotion. I have added a backlash of 0.3mm to 0.4mm in all the gears. With some adjustments in central distance and addendum modification, I am able to achieve a clearance of 0.4mm between gear teeth.