11.6 - Conclusions and Future Work
Conclusions and Future Work
Overall we are happy with how our mechanism turned out. It was able to successfully land a flip off the table about 86% of the time. Improving its consistency is likely a matter of improving build technique, improving part quality, or better tuning on our end. Unfortunately it was not able to flick with enough power to flick a bottle with more than the tiniest amount of water, and as such, we had to put double-sided tape on the ground to prevent the bottle from bouncing when it landed.
We would also prefer the bottle to be able to be flipped onto the same surface as the flipping mechanism instead of off the table, but unfortunately the mechanism was not able to move quickly enough to reach that goal despite our best efforts. If we were to continue working on this, we would consider switching to a stepper motor to get a higher speed while maintaining high torque and precision. We could also increase the speed by using counterweights or springs to pull against the end-effector.
It would also be nice if the system was fully autonomous. If the flipper could land the bottle in a specific location consistently, and the end-effector were to be redesigned to be able to pick up the bottle instead of requiring the user to load the bottle, the mechanism would be capable of both picking up and flipping the bottle, making the entertainment fully autonomous.
Lessons Learned
Reading and understanding motor specifications is crucial when specific velocities are required. It is also important to research how to properly wire and control motors. Additionally, it is important to start building and iterating as soon as possible, as during this part of the semester, it can be difficult to consistently use the machines at TIW more than once per day.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following individuals and groups for their help:
The teaching team Dr. Meredith Symmank, Mila Wetz, and Connor Hennig for providing instruction and guidance throughout this project
The TIW staff for helping us operate the various machines used throughout this project
Adam Bluteau for helping us figure out how to properly power the servo motor