Working under an advising professor, Ute Poerschke, I worked on a 3 person student team to design, develop, and build a heliodon.  The machine simulates the path of the sun at a given latitude, time of year, and time of day.  By using this type of interactive machine, students are able to better visualize and comprehend the sun's movement, as opposed to simply interpreting sun analysis output from programs such as Ecotect or Vasari.

Because of the complex movements of the machine, many complex, custom connectors had to be designed and built.  Currently, the heliodon is being used in the Stuckeman Family Building (architecture and landscape architecture studio) at Penn State University.