34 replies to this topic

[Ants4fun]

Here is another design. It also has bumps for traction, and good visibility, however it is made to go under the outworld, simulating the ants going into their anthill.

[drtrmiller]

Here is another design. It also has bumps for traction, and good visibility, however it is made to go under the outworld, simulating the ants going into their anthill.underneath design.PNG

 

I appreciate your submissions!

 

The difficulty with any design that utilizes a cut in the floor of the arena is that it has to interface with the arena so ants can't get out.  

 

In your illustration, you just have a flat surface against another flat surface.  My original design back in December/January utilized a similar strategy, but with an artificial anthill pressing into the hole, as shown here.

 

The only way such a design would work (i.e. be properly assembled for the user so small ants don't escape) is if the connector piece was glued or otherwise permanently fastened to the underside of the floor of the arena, which would make unused ports protrude and look tacky.

 

On the other hand, if a sidewall connection is utilized, it means that there has to be a large, fixed amount of space or "padding" between each 4x4 inch unit, which makes the whole setup look disjointed, as if I'm connecting unrelated pieces that are forced to fit together unnaturally.

 

This is a very difficult challenge, requiring a creative and fresh solution, which is why I've been beating myself up over this one detail for the past 3 months and still haven't settled on something I like.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 18 2015 - 2:15 PM.

[drtrmiller]

I wanted to show this:

 

I came up with that on March 12, but ended up discarding the idea for a number of reasons.  I had to restore the deleted files, which is why it wasn't included in the opening post.  It's similar in some ways to a few ideas illustrated herein the thread.

 

Point is, there are some good ideas being tossed around, and some young people here could very well end up being design engineers if they wanted.  It's just that this problem is like trying to put a round peg through a square hole.

 

I'm not expecting anyone who isn't an engineer to be able to come up with the final solution, but I wanted to give the community the same problem solving opportunity for the same compensation I'm offering skilled freelancers elsewhere to be able to design a comprehensive, working solution.

 

I really appreciate all the folks who have taken the time to help out with this! 

[Ants4fun]

Nice 3d drawing! 

[William. T]

Why not just use a tube? Cheap and easy.

Edited by William. T, March 18 2015 - 3:05 PM.

[drtrmiller]

I could list a ton of reasons, but it's simpler to just say I'm refusing to use tubing of any kind.

[Miles]

Why not just use a tube? Cheap and easy.

 

 

I was so tempted to post a picture of a vinyl tube.

[drtrmiller]

Hey Guys.

 

This was an impossible project to tackle and to get right.  Due to the nature of what I have planned for this project, the connector will literally make or break everything.  As such, I've outsourced the project to a professional, and we're now working on getting the final details hammered out in the next day or so.  I hope to have a final product available to unveil in the next few days.

 

I'd like to thank everyone immensely for your submissions.  Although there won't be a winner to the main prize, I do intend to give everyone who participated in submitting illustrations something as a token of my genuine appreciation for your support.  I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I'll let the individuals who participated know by private message here, as soon as I do know.

 

--

Best,

Terry M.

[Crystals]

Looking forward to what they come up with.

 

In any event, this thread has some interesting ideas which I am sure someone will look at later on.

[Allyy]

A tube? x) 

[Mathiacus]

You should have called me. We could have knocked this out in a few hours over skype while i got drunk again.

[Crystals]

You should have called me. We could have knocked this out in a few hours over skype while i got drunk again.

That conversation would have to be video recorded.

And no, we can NOT let the ants simply walk across the counter to find the foraging area on their own power. 

[drtrmiller]

Big thank you to Mathiacus, who just spoke with me for an hour and a half, and I think he solved the connector problem within the first 5 minutes.

 

I've yet to model and test the ideas we discussed, but it seems like some progress may finally be made on this blasted connector.

 

I'll post more details, soon.

Edited by drtrmiller, March 23 2015 - 10:10 AM.

[Mathiacus]

Aww! Crystal. Why not? 😄. Nah, as you know i like to keep the evil stinging ants. Even one escapee is a huge deal for my family. I would hate to have to burn my house down ;p

Thanks for that terry. Folks, i am avaliable for hire, just post me the soul of your first born, or someone else's first born and ill provide answers to your problems 😅.

On a more serious note.. i can't wait to get my hands on one of these prototypes!

[drtrmiller]

I'm resurrecting this zombie to announce that I will be contacting (in the next few weeks) the 4 individuals who submitted visual aids herein this thread. I'm working on a secret project, and will be sending samples to the participants here as a token of my gratitude for your support.

The Formiculture community is quickly becoming a place for collaboration and serious discussion among like-minded and talented individuals who enjoy making things for ants. As we continue to strive for a more perfect way of keeping ants, I think we can all be proud of the little community we've built here together.

Forever forward...