Moving on from the challenges posed in our initial design concept, we chose to go with the same approach of using a speaker and a mechanical component to scared birds away. We scrapped the extendable arm an began exploring the use of a spinning cord to physically defend the area from birds. This approach was brushed on during our design evaluation before we settled on an extendable arm and it was again suggested to us by our advisor, Dr. Becker, after we began the redesign process of the mechanical systems. Below is our redesigned device making use of the rotating cable concept.

Final Design

Design Operation

As seen in the picture below, the device is now housed in a cylinder the size of a paint can with the motorized spool holding the cord on the top of the device. A solenoid is used to control the motion of the spool enclosure. When the solenoid is up the cord is spooling or unspooling and when it is down the cylinder will begin to spin with the rotating cord.

Closeup of Spool Mechanism

When the operation cycle is complete the solenoid will pop back up and stop the cylinder. The motor will reverse direction and begin to spool up the cord. This is our final design moving into the Spring 2014 semester.

Spool Extended