...
Electronics and Software
Our mechanism was design designed to function work with one a single rotary input from a motor to the input gear. An Arduino Uno was used to run ran a code that directed the motor to start driving once , starting it when a button was clicked and to stop the motor stopping it when clicked again. The Arduino code is based on a previous project in this class but modified to turn the button into a toggle switch. Initially, we used an L298N motor controller was used to control the motor with two 9V batteries in series to provide a total of 18V voltage supply, however, to prevent the motor from overheating from a high voltage and to reduce the hassle of replacing the batteries often, we adopted a power source that provided a 12V voltage , providing 18V to our system. However, to prevent motor overheating and reduce the need for frequent battery replacement, we switched to a 12V power supply.
Figure 9. Electronics diagram
...
Since the aim of our mechanism was to dip a cookie in a cup of milk, our system was designed to stand upright. In order to move on from a prototype that functioned in a flat plane to an upright mechanism that provides provided our desired vertical motion, we created a supporting structure. The structure had an additional slider feature to allow the height of the bottom plate to be adjusted accordingly to the level of milk we desired and also had 3d printed compartments to hold the electronics as seen in figure """""X""""" Figure 5 above. Lastly, a 3d printed motor mount was also screwed onto the structure to hold the motor in position.