Summary of ROBOTIC ROSE OF ENCHANTMENT DROPS PETALS ON COMMAND
### Article Summary This article describes Gord Payne's budget-friendly robotic rose for a high school production of *Beauty and the Beast*. Inspired by the film's enchanted flower, the project uses nylon trimmer line to mechanically drop petals from a silk rose head. A servo motor, controlled by an Adafruit Circuit Playground and a remote button, retracts the line to release individual petals one by one, simulating the curse's countdown without requiring a financial budget.
Parts used in the Robotic Rose of Enchantment:
- Nylon trimmer line
- Tubing (for the stem)
- Silk rose head
- Custom 3-D printed part
- Wire (short lengths for hanging petals)
- Servo horn
- Servo motor
- Adafruit Circuit Playground
- Remote control with a button
In Disney’s 1991 film Beauty and the Beast, an enchantress curses the young (10 or 11-year-old) prince to beast-hood for spurning her based solely on her appearance. She gives him a special rose that she says will bloom until his 21st birthday, at which time he’ll be turned back into a prince, provided that he learned to love by then. If not, he’ll be a beast for eternity. As the years go by, the rose drops the occasional petal and begins to wilt under the bell jar where he keeps it.
[Gord Payne] was tasked with building such a rose of enchantment for a high school production and knocked it out of the park. With no budget provided, [Gord] used what he had lying about the house, like nylon trimmer line. In fact, that’s probably the most important part of this build. A piece of trimmer line runs up through the stem made of tubing and out the silk rose head, which connects with a custom 3-D printed part.
Each loose petal hangs from the tubing using a short length of wire. Down at the base, the trimmer line is attached to a servo horn, which is connected to an Adafruit Circuit Playground. When the button is pressed on the remote, the servo retracts the trimmer line a little bit, dropping a petal. Be sure to check out the demo after the break.
Dropping petals is an interesting problem to solve. Most of the flower hacks we see around here involve blooming, which presents its own set of troubles.
Source: ROBOTIC ROSE OF ENCHANTMENT DROPS PETALS ON COMMAND
- What was the main material used for the mechanism?
Gord used nylon trimmer line as the most important part of the build. - How are the loose petals attached to the stem?
Each loose petal hangs from the tubing using a short length of wire. - Which component controls the movement of the trimmer line?
A servo motor is connected to the trimmer line via a servo horn. - What device processes the signal when the button is pressed?
The Adafruit Circuit Playground receives the input from the remote button. - How does the user trigger a petal to drop?
Pressing a button on the remote causes the servo to retract the trimmer line. - What type of rose head was utilized in this project?
A silk rose head was used and connected to a custom 3-D printed part. - Did the creator have a specific budget for this build?
No budget was provided, so the creator used materials lying about the house. - What movie inspired this specific mechanical rose project?
The project was inspired by Disney’s 1991 film Beauty and the Beast.
