Phoenix Rising

Cassidy Parrish, Engineering

Meet the Kickboxer

Kickbox Photo

I’m Cassidy Parrish, a senior engineering major with concentrations in mechanical, biomedical, and electrical/computer engineering. During my time here at Elon, I’ve been involved in various facets of campus life, such as being a Tour Guide, Maker Hub Consultant, First Generation Society President, and host of Elon Survivor. I joined Kickbox this year to make my dream of creating my own phoenix wings for my graduation photos that can actually move come true. As a professional, I am looking to go into making animatronics, and this project directly combines all of the aspects of this field I enjoy, utilizing creativity and technicality to create something that brings joy.

The Problem

I wanted to create this project because of my upcoming graduation and passion for animatronics. Since starting at Elon and knowing our mascot is a phoenix, I knew I wanted to incorporate some form of phoenixey imagery into my graduation photos. Over the course of my time here, and as I decided on the niche of animatronics, the way I could best combine my goal and passion was to create a set of movable phoenix wings. The name of this project, Phoenix Rising, was inspired by both my favorite statue on campus with the same name (and where I found a hidden immunity idol in the surrounding bushes), but also as a representation of my journey throughout college of always rising from the ashes of challenges and set backs to now becoming a rising phoenix into the world outside of Elon.

Prototyping: First Steps

Prototype 1 (Change the photo)

Research Stage

Before I even began to create anything physical, I conducted copious amounts of research. This research spanned from how have individuals previously tackled a similar project to what do actual wings in nature look like and how do they maneuver.

Mock-up Stage

I then utilized the information I gathered from my research stage to make a popsicle stick mock up for a potential frame design.

Building Stage: First Frame

After making my mock-up, I made a sketch that included the lengths of each piece for the actual pvc pipe frame. The pieces were then cut, assembled, and checked to ensure motion was still possible.

Building Stage: Linear Actuator Motion

I also wired up my linear actuator at this point to the battery and controller for the remote operation. I really ran into my first major challenge here as the battery pack I had ordered was not strong enough to power the actuator. However, I was able to connect to a more powerful source and test out my connections, which worked successfully.

Prototyping: Final Stages

Final Frame

In this stage, I decided to keep the initial prototype frame, minus one piece at the bottom. However, later on, I did end up readding this piece. I mounted the frame onto a simple wooden board, about the size of the backpack I planned to use to keep the wings secured to my back. It was at the point where, after I had struggled with trying to get the linear actuator to power the wings with little success, I decided to move on to the next step of the process, the design of the wings, and come back to the actuator later.

Creating the Feathers

Once the frame was secure and set, the most critical next step was to design and create the feathers. I started with 3 yards of fabric for each color (red, orange, and yellow). I then cut each of these fabrics in half to use for each wing.

Measuring and Cutting the Centerpoint

After I had one half of the fabric to work with, I began to measure and sketch out the pattern for the feathers on both halves of the fabric. I later split this into being the front and back portion of each wing. I cut along and up the pattern to create flowy feathers.

Feather Creation Process

Once I had the feathers created for each color, I then began laying them onto the frame in the order red, orange, yellow on both sides for both wings. I started by gluing the reds to the frame. Once red was secure, I attached orange to the bottom, and yellow to the bottom of orange.

Feathers on the Frame

I then slid the wooden board into the backpack to secure the wings to my back and did some walking around and movement tests. Currently, the wings are operated by reaching an extended pvc pipe hidden within the wings and pulling it in and out. I did find that once the fabric was attached to the wings they became a bit heavier and broader than I was expecting, but overall I am in love with how they have turned out!

Wings On

Materials I used

3/4” pvc pipes
Lots of screws
Fabric (Colors x3; red, orange, yellow)
Glue
Wood board
Elon branded backpack

Most Helpful Resources

Helpful Videos

In my research phase, I found a number of videos made by other individuals who had tackled a similar project. The primary ones I found the most value in during the project process were:

What’s Next?

Moving forward with this project, the goal is to get the linear actuator to be able to actually move the wings. Some solutions to this problem I have already come up with are to add another linear actuator (one for each wing) or to redesign the frame to be more compatible with just one actuator.