Circular Reasoning 2 is composed of three sections, the Common Path, Path 1, and Path 2. The Common Path is the part of Paths 1 and 2 that overlap. It is composed of two modules, a conveyor belt, and a stepper. The conveyor belt is powered by an XL motor that is attached to a series of gears to slow the conveyor’s speed. The conveyor lifts the ball about 14 in. from the ground and pushes it onto a ramp. The ball rolls off the end of the ramp onto a small set of stairs. It then reaches the stepper, which will be discussed in the next section.
Picture 1 The paths (the part with both blue and yellow lines is the Common Path)
Picture 2 The Conveyor Belt
Picture 3 The Gears
Picture 4 The Ramp
Picture 5 The Stepper
The stepper is a series of stairs that move up and down with a piston system. A medium motor powers a sequence of gears that turn a crankshaft beneath the steps. The crankshaft extends and retracts seven pistons that are attached to the seven pairs of stairs. When the first pair of steps moves down completely the ball rolls to the bottom of those stars where it is stopped by the base of the next set of stairs. The first pair then moves up and lets the ball roll onto the next pair. This repeats for the seven sections of the stepper, until the ball reaches the top. Once the ball reaches the top of the stepper, it rolls onto the divider, a small triangle guarded by a ninja. If the ball falls to the right side of the triangle, it goes to Path 1. If the ball falls to the left of the triangle, it goes to Path 2.
Picture 1 The Gears
Picture 2 The Crankshaft
Picture 3 The Steps
Picture 4 The Steps after half of a rotation
Picture 5 The Divider
When the ball enters Path 1, it first rolls down a ramp made of two pipes. At the end of this ramp, it falls onto a series of five more ramps made from studded beams. These ramps are positioned so that when the ball reaches the end of one, it falls onto the next and rolls the opposite direction. This results in a zigzag pattern. When the ball reaches the last of these five ramps, it rolls to a corner and falls onto a long conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is powered by a medium motor that is geared down. I attached small “horseshoes” to the conveyor belt to catch the ball and carry it up the belt.
Picture 1 The tube ramp
Picture 2 The zigzag ramps
Picture 3 The corner
Picture 4 The Gears
Picture 5 The Belt (sorry about the poor quality. I messed up the file format)